L13RARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Class  ^ 

Vibe  lanivereitis  of  Cbtcaflo 

KOL'NDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 
CONCERNING  WEALTH 


REVIEWED  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  HIS  ENVIRON 

MENT  AND  COMPARED  WITH  HIS 

CONTEMPORARIES 


PART  OF  A  I3ISSERTATION  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  THE 

GRMiL  ATE  DIVINITY  SCHOOL,  IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


(department  of  NKW  testament  LITERATURE  ANO  INTERPRETATIOM) 


BY 

GERALD  D.  HEUVER 


PUBLISHED  BY 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
1903 


S'f 


The  Teachings  of  Jesus 
Concerning  Wealth 


^be  "Clnfvcraftig  ot  Cbicaflo 

FOUNDED  BY  JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 
CONCERNING  WEALTH 


REVIEWED  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  HIS  ENVIRON- 
MENT AND  COMPARED  WITH  HIS 
CONTEMPORARIES 


PART  OF  A  DISSERTATION  SUBMITTED  TO  THE  FACULTY  OF  THE 

GRADUATE  DIVINITY  SCHOOL,  IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE 

DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


(department  of  new  testament  literature  and  interpretation) 


BY 

GERALD  D.  HEUVER 

LL 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 
1903 


COPYRIGHT,  1903, 
BY  FLEMING  H. 
REVELL   COMPANY 

April 


-v>' 


CHICAGO:  63  WASHINGTON  STREET 
NEW  YORK:  158  FIFTH  AVENUE 
TORONTO:  27  RICHMOND  STREET,  W. 
LONDON:  21  PATERNOSTER  SQUARE 
EDINBURGH:     30    ST.    MARY   STREET 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Abbott,  Lyman, 
Chalmers,  Thos., 


Cone,  Orello, 

Eli,  Richard  F., 
Freemantle,  Canon, 


"Christianity  and  Social  Problems." 
"Christian  and  Economic  Polity  of 
a  Nation,  with  Especial  Refer- 
ence to  the  Large  Towns." 
"Rich  and  Poor  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment." 
"Social  Aspects  of  Christianity." 
"The  World  as  a  Subject  of  Re- 
demption." 
Gladden,  Washington,  "Applied  Christianity." 
Gore,  Charles,  "The  Social  Doctrine  of  the  Sermon 

on  the  Mount." 
Hamack,  A.,  "What  is  Christianity?"  (Pp.79-102.) 

Herron,  G.,  "The  Message  of  Jesus  to  Men  of 

Wealth." 
Herron,  G.,  "The  New  Redemption." 

Hill,  D.  J.,  "Social  Aspects  of  Christianity." 

Hobson,  J.  A.,  "The  Social  Philosophy  of  the  Char- 

ity Organization  Society."    (On 
Matt.  V.  42.) 
Hodges,  George,  "The  Heresy  of  Cain." 

Holtzman,  H.,  "Die  ersten  Christen  und  die  So- 

ziale  Frage." 
Holtzman,  O.,  "Jesus  Christus  und  das  Gemein- 

schaft  Leben  der  Menschen." 
James,  Henry,  "Society  of  the  Redeemed  Form  of 

Man." 
Kuyper,  A.,  "DeChristus  en de  SocialeNooden." 

Laveleye,  E.,  "Primitive  Christianity." 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Leslie,  Stephen, 
Mathews,  Shailer, 
Maurice,  F.  D., 

Nathusius,  von.  M., 


Nauman, 
Newton,  Heber, 
Nitti, 
Peabody,  F., 


Rogge,  C, 

Root,  T., 
Todt,  R., 


Uhlhorn,  G., 

Weiszacker, 
Wendt,  H.  H., 


Westcott, 


"Social  Rights  and  Duties." 

"The  Social  Teaching  of  Jesus." 

"Moral  and  Metaphysical  Philos- 
ophy."    (Vol.  II.) 

"Die  Mitarbeid  der  Kirche  an  der 
Losung  der  Sozialen  Frage." 
Pp.  132-158. 

"Was  heist  Christlich  Sozial." 

"Social  Studies." 

"Catholic  Socialism." 

"Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Ques- 
tion." 

"Der  irdische  Besitz  im  Neuen  Tes- 
tament." 

"The  Profit  of  the  Many." 

"Der  radikale  deutsche  Sozialis- 
mus  und  die  Christliche  Gesell- 
schaft."     (Pp.  395-483.) 

"Christian  Charity  in  the  Ancient 
Church." 

"The  Apostolic  Age."    (Pp.  52  sq.) 

"Das  Eigentum  nach  Christlicher 
Beurteilung."  (Evang.  soz.  Kon- 
gress,  1897.) 

"Social  Aspects  of  Christianity." 


PREFACE 

This  little  volume  is  part  of  a  thesis  submitted  to 
the  Divinity  Faculty  of  the  University  of  Chicago  in 
candidacy  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 
As  originally  submitted,  it  contained  also  a  study  of 
the  teachings  of  the  apostles  and  the  early  fathers. 
The  omission  of  this  from  the  present  publication  is 
due  to  the  author's  desire  to  study  it  more  thor- 
oughly. On  the  basis  of  investigations  already  made, 
however,  he  feels  justified  in  saying  that  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  by  the  eadier  fathers 
is  in  substantial  accord  with  that  set  forth  in  this 
treatise.  Certainly  not  until  the  latter  part  of  the 
third  century  do  divergent  interpretations  appear. 

The  thesis  is  offered  to  the  public  in  the  belief 
that  there  is  still  room  and  need  for  a  further  expo- 
sition of  the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  The  prob- 
lems of  property  are  very  perplexing,  and  their 
solution  is  vital  to  national  welfare.  Any  help  in  it 
that  might  be  had  from  Jesus,  the  Christian  world 
should  eagerly  receive. 

Thus  far  the  attitude  of  Jesus  to  property  has 
not  to  any  great  extent  received  the  attention  of 
specialists  in  English-speaking  countries.  The  dis- 
cussions of  the  subject  by  Professor  F.  G.  Peabody, 
in  his  book  ** Jesus  Christ  and  the  Social  Question,'* 


4  PREFACE 

by  Professor  Shailer  Mathews,  in  his  **  Social  Teach- 
ing of  Jesus,"  and  by  Dr.  E.  T.  Root,  in  his  work, 
*'The  Profit  of  the  Many, '*  are  all  very  helpful,  but 
are  rather  brief.  The  very  able  work  by  Dr.  Chris- 
tian Rogge,  **Der  irdische  Besitz  im  Neuen  Testa- 
ment," the  more  popular  discussion  of  the  subject  by 
Dr.  Abraham  Kuyper  in  his  monograph,  **De  Christus 
en  de  Sociale  Nooden,"  and  the  recent  publication 
by  Professor  O.  Holtzman,  '* Jesus  Christus  und 
das  Gemeinschaft  Leben  der  Menschen,"  are  not 
generally  accessible  to  English  readers. 

The  treatise  is  almost  wholly  based  upon  original 
sources  of  information.  This  explains  the  scarcity 
of  its  references  to  the  modern  authorities.  A  re- 
arrangement of  its  material  since  its  acceptance  as  a 
thesis  has  been  made  in  order  to  make  it  more  read- 
able. Instead  of  retaining  the  historic  it  has  been 
given  a  topical  form. 

The  author  desires  to  acknowledge  his  indebted- 
ness to  Dr.  Christian  Rogge,  whose  work,  especially 
where  it  touches  on  questions  of  criticism,  is  as 
sagacious  as  it  is  original.  He  also  wishes  to  ex- 
press his  obligation  to  Professors  E.  D.  Burton  and 
Shailer  Mathews,  whose  suggestions  and  criticisms 
he  found  invaluable. 

That  the  discussion  in  the  treatise  may  cast  some 
light  upon  the  subject  in  hand,  and  that  its  deficien- 
cies and  errors  may  stimulate  others  to  write  more 
masterfully  on  it,  is  the  sincere  hope  of  the  author. 


INTRODUCTION 

Unto  what  is  the  kingdom  of  God  like?  It  is 
*'not  eating  and  drinking."  It  does  not  consist  in 
externaUties.  It  is  **  righteousness  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost."  It  is  inwardness,  not  out- 
wardness. It  is  like  unto  leaven  hid  in  a  great 
measure  of  meal.  But  the  kingdom  must  come  to 
visibihty,  just  as  the  leaven  does.  If  the  leaven 
stay  hid  in  the  meal,  it  is  not  leaven.  If  the  king- 
dom do  not  come  to  outwardness,  it  has  no  inward- 
ness. *'In  the  world,  yet  not  of  the  world" — this  is 
the  perpetual  fact  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  not  con- 
forming to  the  world,  but  transforming  it — this  is 
the  kingdom's  law  of  operation. 

Now,  to  help  keep  these  balances  and  to  help 
obey  this  law,  it  must  be  an  immeasurable  advan- 
tage to  get  **back  to  Christ"  in  this  historic  sense, 
that  we  view  Christ  as  He  actually  lived  among  men 
day  by  day;  that  we  get  Him  before  the  mind  in  the 
precise  setting  of  His  time;  that  we  see  just  what 
conditions — social,  ceremonial,  civic,  and  personal — 
He  daily  faced,  and  how  He  met  those  conditions. 

Was  He  a  theorist,  exploiting  views  so  far  away 
from  the  realities  or  possibilities  of  Hfe,  that  He  was 
utterly  unpractical  and  impracticable?     Was  He  a 


INTRODUCTION 


socialist,  so  radical  in  His  social  and  economic  views 
as  to  threaten  the  disruption  of  the  family  and  of 
society?  Was  He  a  revolutionist,  bent  on  the  over- 
throw of  established  government,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  states?  Or  did  He  utterly  ignore  social  con- 
ditions, in  His  supreme  purpose  to  establish  a  king- 
dom? Did  He  have  nothing  whatever  to  say  as  to 
the  disposition  to  be  made  of  wealth?  Did  He  lay 
down  specific  rules  of  conduct  in  connection  with 
civic,  monetary,  and  social  matters?  Or  did  He 
enunciate  broad,  fundamental  principles  for  guid- 
ance not  only  in  spiritual  concerns,  but  in  things 
pertaining  to  society  and  civil  government?  In  fine, 
did  Christ  teach  anything  concerning  social,  eco- 
nomic, and  property  questions  that  can  be  used, 
and  that  should  be  used,  to  make  God's  kingdom 
come  now  and  here,  in  the  midst  of  the  business  and 
the  pleasure  of  this  work-a-day  world,  as  well  as 
hereafter  in  the  glories  and  activities  of  the  life  of 
heaven? 

The  following  pages  are  an  attempted  answer  to 
these  questions  so  far  as  they  apply  to  the  posses- 
sion, accumulation,  and  use  of  riches.  They  set 
forth  *'the  teachings  of  Jesus  concerning  wealth.*' 
They  are  far  and  away  the  most  intensely  realistic 
presentation  of  the  subject  within  my  knowledge; 
for,  combined  with  an  evident  famiHarity  with  the 
sources,  and  a  quite,  thorough  study  of  the  field, 
and  a  judicial  poise  in  treating  of  controverted  points 


INTRODUCTION 


of  exegesis,  and  of  significant  ''variations  between 
the  Gospels,'*  there  is  a  rare  simplicity  and  lucidity  of 
style,  that  lets  the  reader  see  the  realities  of  Pales- 
tinian conditions,  the  failure  of  the  Jewish  Church 
to  improve  the  people's  social  state,  the  Humani- 
tarianism  of  a  Righteous  Remnant  in  the  days  of 
Jesus,  and  Christ's  walk  and  talk  with  men,  very 
much  as  if  he  were  an  eye-witness  to  the  scenes  and 
events  described,  and  a  hearer  of  the  very  words  of 
the  divine  teacher. 

The  reader  is  likely  to  rise  from  the  reading  of 
these  pages,  convinced  of  three  things,  viz.:  that 
** Jesus  was  tremendously  interested  in  people's  eco- 
nomic conditions";  that  '*He  sought  to  better 
people's  material  conditions  by  making  the  people 
themselves  better";  and  that  He  ''planned  to  make 
men  better  through  the  agency  of  the  Church."  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  though  Jesus  "thought  in 
ages,"  He  thought  also  for  the  man  of  His  time; 
that  though  He  exalted  the  individual  He  glorified 
society;  that  though  His  kingdom  is  "not  of  this 
world,"  it  is  the  most  real  thing  this  world  holds; 
that  though  He  claimed  absolute  priority  in,  and 
lordship  over,  every  affection  of  heart  and  home.  He 
gave  to  home  and  love  and  marriage  their  sweetest 
amenities  and  sanctities;  and  that  though  the  only 
true  riches  are  the  riches  of  God,  worldly  wealth  can 
be  put  to  great  uses  in  helping  God's  kingdom 
come.  Herrick  Johnson. 


I 


J 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Economic  Advantages  in  Palestine 

IN  THE  Days  of  Jesus     -  -  -      ii 

II.  The  Unhappy  Condition  of  the  Pales- 
tinian People  in  the  Days  of  Jesus  -      25 

III.  The  Humanitarian    Laws  and   Teach- 

ings OF  the  Old  Testament   -  -      43 

IV.  The  Failure  of  the  Jewish  Church  in 

Jesus'  Day  to  Improve  the  People's 
Social  Condition  -  -  -      57 

V.  The  Humanitarianism  of  a  Righteous 

Remnant  in  the  Days  of  Jesus         -      ^^ 

VI.  The  Variations  between  the  Gospels 

Touching  Jesus'  Teaching  on  Wealth      91 

VII.  The  Purpose  of  Jesus'  Ministry  -    109 

VIII.  The  Economic  Teachings  of  Jesus'  Life    125 

IX.  The   Teachings   of   Jesus    Concerning 

THE  Possession  of  Property    -  -    139 

X.  The  Teachings   of   Jesus   Concerning 

THE  Worship  of  Mammon         -  -    155 

XI.  The  Teachings   of   Jesus   Concerning 

THE  Accumulation  and  Use  of  Riches    171 

XII.  The  Progressive  Conservatism  of  Jesus    189 


THE    ECONOMIC   ADVANTAGES    OF 

PALESTINE    IN    THE    DAYS 

OF  JESUS 


"  For  the  Lord  thy  God  bringeth  thee  into  a  good  land, 
a  land  of  brooks  of  water,  of  fountains  and  depths,  spring- 
ing forth  in  valleys  and  hills ;  a  land  of  wheat  and  barley, 
and  vines  and  fig-trees  and  pomegranates;  a  land  of  oil, 
olives,  and  honey;  a  land  wherein  thou  shalt  eat  bread  with- 
out scarceness,  thou  shalt  not  lack  anything  in  it;  aland 
whose  stones  are  iron  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou  mayest 
dig  brass."     (Deut.  viii.  7,  8.) 


or  TH^ 

NlVERt, 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  ECONOMIC  ADVANTAGES  OF  PALESTINE 
IN  THE  DAYS   OF  JESUS 

Palestine  is  a  most  peculiar  country.  Roughly 
speaking,  it  consists  of  four  strips  of  territory  run- 
ning parallel  to  each  other  from  north  to  south. 
Each  strip  has  its  own  pecuUar  features,  climate, 
and  produce.  Two  of  them  are  high  and  two  of 
them  low,  and  the  low  and  the  high  alternate. 

The  western  strip,  which  runs  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea,  is  low.  Save  for  the  promontory  of 
Carmel,  which  cuts  across  it  in  the  north,  its  surface 
is  uniform,  being  everywhere  level  or  gently  rolling. 
The  ground  is  naturally  rich  and  capable  of  raising 
the  finest  of  wheat. 

The  next  parallel  section  is  the  highland  strip. 
It  is  the  most  important  strip  in  Palestine.  It  con- 
tains more  places  of  historic  interest  than  all  the 
other  strips  combined.  Within  its  area  lie  Jerusa- 
lem, Bethlehem,  Hebron,  Samaria,  Shiloh,  Shechem, 
Sychar,  Cana,  and  Nazareth. 

The  northern  part  is  very  rough  and  densely 
timbered,  but  scattered  through  it  are  fertile  plains, 
which  when  attended  to  yield  excellent  harvests. 
Going  south  one   strikes  the    beautiful    plain  of 


H  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Esdraelon.  Esdraelon  is  the  best  plain  in  Palestine, 
and  is  famous  alike  for  its  fertility  and  for  having 
been  the  battle-ground  of  so  many  different  people. 
**  Pharaohs  and  Ptolemies,  Emirs  and  Arsacids, 
Judges  and  Consuls,  have  all  contended  for  the 
mastery  of  that  smiling  tract."  Farther  south  the 
ground  gradually  rises,  and  the  plains  grow  smaller. 
All  are  rich,  however,  and  when  cultivated  yield 
good  crops  of  wheat.  The  hillsides  are  well  adapted 
for  grape  culture  and  all  sorts  of  orchards,  and  the 
ridges  make  good  pasturage  for  cattle  and  sheep. 

Still  farther  south  the  ground  grows  more  hilly, 
but  is  still  fertile,  and  capable  of  producing  the  best 
grapes  in  the  world.  It  was  from  this  part  of  the 
land  that  the  spies  sent  out  by  Moses  cut  the  branch 
with  the  cluster  of  grapes  which  they  bore  upon  a 
staff  between  two.     (Numbers  13,  23.) 

In  the  extreme  south  and  to  the  southeast  of  this 
strip  the  ground  is  very  desolate.  It  abounds  in  sav- 
age chffs  and  naked  ravines,  and  has  neither  trees, 
streams,  nor  fountains. 

The  third  parallel  strip  is  the  enormous  chasm 
through  which  the  Jordan — the  descender — tumbles. 
From  its  source  in  the  waters  of  Merom  to  its  ter- 
minus in  the  Dead  Sea,  a  straight  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  miles,  it  falls  three  thousand 
feet.  The  Lake  of  Galilee,  through  which  it  passes, 
lies  seven  hundred  feet  below  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
and  the  Dead  Sea,  into  which  it  empties,  thirteen 


PALESTINE   IN  THE   DAYS  OF  JESUS     15 

hundred  feet.  The  valley  is  not  of  much  impor- 
tance. Its  average  width  is  only  eight  miles,  and 
because  of  its  excessive  heat  the  people  who  live  in 
it  are  indolent.  No  great  man — prophet  or  warrior 
— ever  came  from  the  Jordan  Valley.  Jericho  was 
its  largest  city,  but  though  Jesus  must  have  passed 
through  this  city  several  times,  he  did  not  work  in 
it.  Having  little  time  for  gathering  a  nucleus  for 
his  kingdom,  he  preferred  to  give  all  his  time  to  the 
hardier  people  from  the  hills. 

The  fourth  strip  is  the  eastern  table-land,  a  pla- 
teau which  lies  some  three  thousand  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.  It  is  made  up  of  wooded  hills  and 
grassy  plains,  excellently  adapted  for  grazing,  is  well 
watered,  and  will  produce  all  kinds  of  fruit. 

The  different  altitudes  of  the  strips  produce  a 
great  variety  of  climate.  A  traveler  passing  in  a 
direct  line  from  east  to  west  through  Jerusalem  and 
Jericho  would  pass  through  all  kinds  of  climate. 
On  the  low  coast  the  temperature  is  high.  Palms 
are  growing  there,  and  he  would  likely  want  to 
shade  himself  from  the  rays  of  the  sun  beneath  their 
leafy  tops.  On  the  Judean  hills  the  climate  is  tem- 
perate, the  nights  are  always  cool,  and  refreshing 
winds  blow  generally  during  the  day.  If  he  traveled 
in  the  winter  he  might  run  into  snow,  as  snow  is 
known  to  have  fallen  there  to  a  depth  of  five  feet  and 
remained  on  the  ground  for  several  days.  He  might 
even  see  the  shimmering  ice,  as  the  pools  around 


i6  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Jerusalem  have  been  covered  with  it.  Going  into 
the  Jordan  Valley  he  would  enter  a  region  of  continu- 
ous hot  weather,  while  on  the  plateau  beyond  it  is 
always  cold.  All  this  variety  of  climate  can  be 
found  in  a  journey  of  scarcely  seventy  miles. 

This  great  variety  of  cHmate  occasions  a  variety 
of  products.  Dr.  Post,  of  Beirut,  has  said  that  no 
other  country  in  the  world  yields  so  large  a  number 
of  food  products.  All  the  cereals  and  leguminous 
plants  commonly  used  for  food,  whether  native  or 
imported,  will  grow  and  yield  good  harvests. 

Early  records  of  the  land  speak  of  its  great  fertil- 
ity. In  several  places  in  the  Old  Testament  it  is 
called  a  **good  land"  (Ex.  iii.  8,  Deut.  i.  25,  vi. 
18),  "a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey'*  (Ex. 
xiii.  5,  Ex.  xxxiii.  3),  "a.  fat  land"  (Nehemiah,  ix. 
25),  "a  land  of  brooks  of  water,  fountains,  and 
depths,  springing  forth  in  valleys  and  hills;  a  land 
of  wheat  and  barley,  and  vine  and  figs,  and  pome- 
granates; a  land  of  oil,  olives,  and  honey;  a  land 
where  people  can  eat  bread  without  scarceness  and 
lack  for  nothing."     (Deut.  viii.  7,  8.) 

Records  of  Jesus'  day  also  tell  of  great  fertility. 
If  we  divide  the  land  west  of  the  Jordan  into  three 
equal  parts,  and  draw  the  lines  from  west  to  east, 
and  call  the  third  to  the  north  Galilee,  the  central 
third  Samaria,  and  the  southern  third  Judea,  and 
divide  that  on  the  east  side  of  Jordan  into  two  parts, 
running  the  lines  in  the  same  direction,  and  then  call 


PALESTINE   IN  THE   DAYS  OF  JESUS      17 

the  southern  half  Perea,  our  designations  would 
approximately  cover  the  divisions  of  the  lands  that 
go  by  these  names. 

Of  Gahlee  Josephus  says  that  it  was  very  rich. 
It  was  full  of  plantations  of  trees  of  all  sorts,  and 
every  part  of  the  soil  was  carefully  tilled.  (Jos. 
Wars,  3,  3,  2.)  In  some  parts  of  the  land,  pre- 
sumably in  Galilee,  judging  from  a  parable  of  Jesus, 
the  produce  of  the  grain-fields  was  sometimes  a  hun- 
dred-fold.    (Matt.  xiii.  23.) 

Samaria  was  nearly  as  Vich.  All  the  land  was 
good,  and  capable  when  cultivated  of  producing  a 
fine  crop  of  wheat.  The  hillsides  were  fit  for  vine 
culture,  orchards  of  all  kinds  abounded,  and  the 
ridges  were  good  for  pasturing  small  cattle  and 
sheep. 

Perea  had  some  desert  land,  and  much  that  was 
rough  and  hard  to  work,  but  was  well  watered,  and 
produced  all  kinds  of  fruit.     (Jos.  Wars,  3,  3,  3.) 

Judea,  too,  was  fertile.  Trees  were  abundant, 
water  was  plenty,  grasses  were  good,  and  the  cities 
were  full  of  people.  (Jos.  Wars,  3,  3,  4.)  Espe- 
cially fruitful  was  the  part  of  Judea  around  Jericho. 
(Jos.  Wars,  i,  6,  6.)  The  balsam  of  that  region 
and  the  beautiful  palm-trees  that  grew  there  were 
reckoned  to  be  the  most  important  products  of 
Palestine,  and  its  dates  were  the  best  in  the  world. 
(Tacitus,  Historia,  5,  6;  PUny,  Historia,  Natur- 
alis,  13,  4,  44.) 


i8  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Even  those  parts  of  Judea  where  nature  had  done 
least  were  productive.  The  forbidding-looking 
steppes  supported  many  goats  and  sheep.  Small 
cattle  and  sheep  grazed  on  the  ridges  of  the  ragged 
hills,  while  the  sunny  side  of  their  rocky  slopes  had 
in  several  instances  been  covered  with  soil  and  made 
to  bear  choice  grapes. 

The  population  of  Palestine  was  very  dense. 
With  an  area  of  only  eleven  thousand  square  miles 
it  contained  five  million  people.  The  densest  part 
was  lower  Galilee,  especially  that  portion  of  it  that 
lay  around  its  lake.  Josephus  declares  that  there 
were  two  hundred  and  four  villages  (or  townships), 
the  smallest  of  which  had  a  population  of  over 
fifteen  thousand  people.  (Jos.  Wars,  3,  3,  2.) 
Galilee  was  the  home  of  Jesus.  There  he  spent 
the  greater  part  of  his  wonderful  childhood  and 
youth  (John  iv.  44;  Matt.  ii.  23),  and  the  greater 
part  of  his  public  ministry.  There,  too,  he  found 
the  greater  number  of  his  disciples.  (Acts  i.  11, 
ii.  7.) 

The  whole  country  was  carefully  cultivated. 
Where  one  sees  now  bare  and  desolate  hills,  there 
were  in  Jesus'  time  fruitful  fields  and  blossoming 
orchards;  where  there  are  now  broken  pillars  and 
crumbling  walls,  the  ruin  of  ancient  homes,  there 
were  then  smiling  cottages  and  thriving  cities  and 
towns.  One  might  almost  say  that  agriculture  was 
a  passion  with  the  Hebrews.     There  never  was  a 


PALESTINE   IN  THE   DAYS  OF  JESUS     19 

people  that  loved  it  more.  The  greatest  men  de- 
lighted in  it.  Gideon,  Samson,  Saul,  David,  Elijah, 
Uzziah — all  great  men — had  been  engaged  in  it,  and 
by  their  example  had  given  it  dignity  and  protection.^ 

The  most  famous  rabbis  were  glad  to  hold  the 
plow.^  Some  would  take  their  students  to  the  field 
and  work  with  them  at  heavy  labor  (Sabbath,  54), 
and  none  have  said  more  beautiful  words  in  praise 
of  agriculture  than  they.^  **If  there  was  a  king  who 
ruled  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  another  and 
occupied  himself  with  agriculture,  he  would  have 
done  something,  if  not,  he  would  have  done  noth- 
ing.**    (Jebamoth,  63a.) 

Commerce  was  fairly  active.  The  prophets  and 
wise  men  of  old  had  been  opposed  to  it,  as  they 
feared  that  it  would  corrupt  the  people.  The  rabbis, 
too,  disliked  it.  They  also  feared  its  seductive 
influence.* 

But  love  of  gain  is  stronger  than  fear  of  sin. 
Besides,  Palestine  had  a  most  excellent  location  for 

*  Gen.  xxvi.  12;  Ex.  xxii.  4-6;  Lev.  xix.  19,  xxvi.  5;  Deut.  xxviii.; 
Prov.  xii.  II,  xviii.  19,  xxxi.  16;  i  Kings  iv.  25;  2  Kings  xviii.  31;  Isaiah 
iii.  14,  xxxvi.  16,  Ixii.  8,  9;  Micah  iv.  4. 

^  Among  those  to  whom  husbandry  was  especially  dear  were  Rabbi 
Ishmael  (Berachoth,  35),  Rabbi  Eliezer  Ben  Azaria  (Sabbath,  54), 
Rabbi  Gamliel,  and  Rabbi  Simon  of  Mispa.     (Pea,  2.) 

3  "One  only  knows  what  comfort  is  when  he  lives  on  the  produce 
of  his  own  estate."    (B.  Mesiah,  107a.) 

*  "He  is  a  merchant,  the  balances  of  deceit  are  in  his  hands,  he 
liveth  to  oppress."  (Hosea  xii.  7.)  "A  merchant  shall  hardly  keep  him- 
self from  doing  wrong;  and  a  huckster  shall  not  be  freed  from  sin." 
(Eccles.  xxvi.  29.)  "Diminish  trade."  (Aboth,  4.)  "Religion  is  pro- 
moted by  making  traffic  little."  (Aboth,  6.)  "While  the  dust  is  yet  on 
your  feet,  sell  your  purchases."  (Pesachim,  113.)  "Let  one  make  no 
profits  in  Palestine  with  the  objects  needed  for  the  support  of  life." 
(B.  Bathra,  91.) 


20  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

commerce.  Situated  at  the  junction  of  three  con- 
tinents, and  crossed  by  roads  which  formed  about  the 
only  connection  between  Asia  and  Africa,  its  com- 
mercial development  was  inevitable.  Commerce  had 
also  had  the  help  of  the  country *s  ablest  rulers. 
Simon  the  Maccabee  and  Herod  the  Great  both 
built  harbors,  Simon  the  harbor  of  Joppa  (i  Mace. 
xiv.  5),  and  Herod  the  harbor  of  Caesarea.  Of 
this  harbor  Josephus  says  that  it  was  larger  than  the 
Pyreum  at  Athens.  **To  protect  vessels  against  the 
impetuous  south  winds,  vast  stones,  of  above  fifty 
feet  in  length  and  not  less  than  eighteen  feet  in 
breadth  and  nine  in  depth,  were  let  down  in  twenty 
fathoms  of  water,  and  a  safe  and  beautiful  harbor 
was  constructed  where  nature  had  done  nothing." 
(Ant.  15,  9,  6;  Jos.  Wars,  I,  21,  5.) 

What  constituted  the  bulk  of  the  trade  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing.  Dye-works,  glass-furnaces, 
potteries,  and  fisheries  were  in  the  cities,  but  to 
what  extent  such  wares  were  exported  we  cannot 
tell.  From  Acts  XH.  20  we  learn  that  there  was  an 
export  of  food  products.  Schurer  mentions  several 
articles  that  were  sold  at  Jerusalem  some  time  after 
our  period.  He  mentions  Median  beer,  Edomite 
vinegar,  Babylonian  sauce,  Cicilian  groats,  Bithynian 
cheese,  Greek  pumpkins,  Spanish  kolios,  Persian 
nuts,  Pelusian  and  Indian  linen  and  cotton  fabrics, 
Laodicean  sandals,  Egyptian  ladders,  baskets,  and 
rope,  Tyrian  ladders,  Sidonian  dishes,  Roman  arm- 


PALESTINE   IN  THE   DAYS  OF  JESUS     21 

chairs,  and  Corinthian  candlesticks.  (Schurer  2,  2, 
142-145.)  It  is  not  Hkely  that  trade  was  more 
active  then  than  in  Jesus'  time.  Commerce  received 
undoubtedly  great  help  from  the  thousands  of  pil- 
grims who  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  feasts. 
These  pilgrims  brought  in  many  new  commercial 
ideas.  They  also  brought  push,  enterprise,  and 
ambition,  as  they  were  generally  wide-awake,  pro- 
gressive, intelligent  men,  whose  influence  upon  the 
youth  of  Palestine  could  not  fail  to  be  helpful. 

The  presence  of  a  large  foreign  population  would 
also  help  trade.  The  majority  of  these  were  Greeks, 
but  there  were  also  Arabs,  Syrians,  and  Phoenicians. 
Schurer  enumerates  thirty-five  cities  which  they  con- 
trolled. Among  those  mentioned  are  Gaza,  Askelon, 
Dora,  Caesarea,  ApoUonia,  and  Ptolemais,  which  are 
coast  cities;  and  Geresa,  Gadara,  ScythopoHs,  Pella, 
Abila,  Hippos,  Bethsaida,  Julius,  Antipatris,  Ti- 
berias, Caesarea,  Philippi,  Phasaelis,  and  Sepphoris, 
which  He  at  or  near  the  Lake  of  Galilee. 

These  foreigners  were  desirable  settlers,  espe- 
cially the  Greeks.  The  Greeks  were  the  most  culti- 
vated people  of  the  time.  The  Romans  are  said  to 
have  been  more  practical,  but  this  is  debatable. 
The  influence  of  the  Greeks  was  great.  It  is  seen 
especially  in  their  impression  upon  the  country's 
architecture,  amusements,  customs,  and  language. 
Several  of  the  public  buildings  were  modeled  after 
Greek  designs.     Of  course  Herod's  palace  was,  but 


22  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

so  were  even  parts  of  the  temple.  Almost  all  the 
ruins  that  remain  from  that  time  show  the  Greek 
style  of  building.  There  was  in  Jerusalem  a  theater 
and  an  amphitheater  (Jos.  Ant.  15,  8,  i),  and  also 
a  stadium  and  a  hippodrome.  (Jos.  Wars,  2,  3,  i; 
Jos.  Ant.  17,  10,  2. )  They  also  had  these  in  Jericho 
(Ant.  17,  6,  3,  5),  and  of  course  in  the  Greek-gov- 
erned cities.  Members  of  the  poorer  class,  the  class 
least  open  to  foreign  innovations,  bore  Greek  names, 
as  two  of  Christ's  disciples,  Andrew  and  Philip. 
Many  other  terms,  and  nearly  all  the  terms  in  the 
department  of  civil  government  or  connected  with 
military  Hfe,  were  Greek  or  Grecianized.  (Schurer 
2,  I,  32.) 

Had  Jesus  lived  in  a  land  as  isolated  as  Norway, 
or  in  a  barren  and  bleak  land  Hke  Iceland,  or  in  a 
rich  and  tropical  land  like  Cuba,  or  amid  a  civiliza- 
tion as  backward  as  that  of  Thibet  or  Siam,  his 
teachings  on  economic  questions  would  be  far  less 
important  to  us.  The  background  would  have  been 
so  utterly  different  from  what  ours  is.  But  he  met 
with  a  civilization  and  conditions  not  so  very  differ- 
ent from  our  own;  a  mixed,  progressive  people  in 
touch  with  the  whole  world,  and  he  spent  most  of 
his  time  amid  the  busiest  and  most  progressive  por- 
tion of  them,  the  GaHleans,  those  who  most  felt  the 
quickening  influences  of  the  foreign  immigrants.  To 
what  extent  the  vexed  and  complicated  economic 
problems  affected  them  we  have  not  the  means  to 


PALESTINE   IN  THE   DAYS  OF  JESUS      23 

determine.  We  do  read  of  labor  organizations,  such 
as  **Ass  Drivers'  Associations"  ^'Fullers'  Unions,'* 
and  ** Fishermen's  Clubs."  We  also  have  an  in- 
stance recorded  in  Josephus  of  a  man  cornering  the 
wheat  market,  but  this  is  all.  We  may,  however, 
be  sure  that  whatever  Jesus  said  concerning  eco- 
nomic affairs,  he  said  with  a  full  consciousness  of 
their  intricacy,  to  an  enlightened  people,  and  it 
deserves  as  such  our  most  careful  study. 


THE   UNHAPPY   CONDITION  OF  THE 

PALESTINIAN  PEOPLE  IN  THE 

DAYS    OF   JESUS 


"See,  I  have  set  before  thee  this  day  life  and  good,  and 
death  and  evil;  in  that  I  command  thee  this  day  to  love  the 
Lord  thy  God,  to  walk  in  his  ways,  and  to  keep  his  com- 
mandments and  his  statutes  and  his  judgments,  that  thou 
mayest  live  and  multiply,  and  that  the  Lord  may  bless  thee 
in  the  land  whither  thou  goest  in  to  possess  it.  But  if  thine 
heart  turn  away,  and  thou  wilt  not  hear,  but  shalt  be  drawn 
away,  and  worship  other  gods,  and  serve  them;  I  denounce 
unto  you  this  day,  that  ye  shall  surely  perish;  ye  shall  not 
prolong  your  days  upon  the  land,  whither  thou  passest  over 
Jordan  to  go  in  to  possess  it."    (Deut.  xxx.  15-18.) 


CHAPTER   II 

THE    UNHAPPY   CONDITION    OF    THE    PALES- 
TINIAN PEOPLE  IN  THE  DAYS  OF  JESUS 

Notwithstanding  all  the  advantages  which  Pales- 
tine had  in  Jesus'  time,  advantages  of  soil,  climate, 
location,  commerce,  and  immigrants,  the  people 
were  very  poor.  The  background  of  Jesus'  teach- 
ing is  one  of  business  depression,  panics,  and 
poverty.  We  read  of  debtors  going  to  prison,  of 
creditors  discounting  bills,  of  a  man  trying  to  build 
a  tower  which  he  was  not  able  to  complete  for  lack 
of  funds,  and  of  a  woman  whose  whole  living  was 
only  two  mites.  *'In  one  of  Jesus'  parables,  every- 
body except  the  king  is  bankrupt;  the  steward  is  in 
debt  to  the  king,  the  servant  to  the  steward." 
(Matt,  xviii.  23-35.) 

The  question  what  to  eat  and  to  wear  created 
much  anxiety  (Luke  xii.  22.)  And  this,  too, 
among  those  who  dwelt,  not  amid  the  barren  crags 
of  southern  Judea,  nor  among  the  chilly  hills  of 
Perea,  but  in  prosperous  Galilee! 

In  another  of  Jesus'  parables,  a  woman  is  pic- 
tured as  having  lost  a  drachma,  and  on  recovering  it, 
inviting  all  her  friends  and  neighbors  to  share  in  her 
joy,  (Luke  xv.  8-10.)  And  Jesus  asked  what 
27 


28  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

woman  would  not  do  just  that!  It  would  scarcely 
occur  to  the  average  American  woman  to  even  so 
much  as  notice  the  loss  of  a  drachma.^  In  the 
prayer  which  Jesus  taught  his  disciples  the  daily 
bread  is  the  first  petition. 

For  this  condition  of  things  three  parties  were 
generally  blamed — the  Romans,  the  Herods,  and  the 
rich — though  some  blamed  their  own  sin  for  it. 

The  Romans  were  the  ruling  power.  In  63  B.  C. 
Palestine  became  a  feudal  state  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire. Pompey,  called  to  settle  a  dispute  between 
two  Jewish  princes,  brothers,  Aristobulus  II.  and 
Hyrkanus  II.,  both  aspirants  to  the  throne,  con- 
cluded to  take  the  country  for  Rome.  This  occa- 
sioned no  end  of  confusion.  Of  course  the  Jews 
resisted.  Any  people  but  the  most  cowardly  would 
have  done  that.  Several  attempts  were  made  to 
shake  off  Roman  rule,  but  all  were  unsuccessful. 

These  attempts  to  regain  independence  cost 
money.  The  soldiers  had  to  be  supported.  While 
they  served  in  the  army  they  were  withdrawn  from 
profitable  pursuits.  Habits  were  formed  which 
made  it  hard  for  them  to  resume  the  normal  activi- 
ties. With  some  they  proved  to  be  too  strong. 
These  gave  themselves  up  to  freebooting,  guerrilla 
warfare,  and  robbery.  Every  man  who  did  this 
withdrew  himself  from  the  ranks  of  producers  and 
obstructed  the  free  intercourse  of  business  activities. 

*  A  drachma  is  about  sixteen  cents. 


CONDITION  OF   THE   PEOPLE  29 

The  Roman  soldiers  also  had  to  be  paid,  for  Rome 
did  not  wage  war  for  charity.  Wars  are  waged  for 
revenue.  A  study  of  them  shows  that  economic 
motives  prompted  nearly  all  of  them,  even  the  so- 
called  religious  wars. 

In  course  of  time  Rome  established  a  feudal  king 
over  them,  a  man  named  Herod,  an  Idumean,  i.  e., 
a  descendant  of  Esau.  He  was  a  son  of  Antipater, 
who  during  the  high  priesthood  of  Hyrkanus  H.  had 
managed  to  get  control  into  his  own  hands.  Herod 
was  one  of  the  worst  men  that  ever  lived.  He  had 
ability,  dash,  daring,  strategy,  recourse,  and  execu- 
tive power,  but  he  had  no  character. 

Herod  was  a  fiend.  One  of  his  first  acts  was 
the  murder  of  forty-five  prominent  Pharisees  for  a 
cause  amounting  next  to  nothing.  He  then  mur- 
dered all  the  Asmoneans,  the  most  beloved  house  in 
Palestine,  descendants  of  the  noble  Mattathias  I., 
the  man  who  had  dared  to  resist  the  Syrian  tyrant, 
and  through  whom  and  his  five  brave  sons  the  land 
had  gained  its  freedom.  Herod  did  not  even  spare 
his  own  wife,  who  belonged  to  that  house,  nor  her 
two  sons,  his  own  children,  all  because  he  feared 
that  they  might  some  day  aspire  to  his  crown.  To 
hate  such  a  man  is  a  credit  to  a  people,  a  virtue  in 
which  the  Jews  did  not  fail.  They  hated  him  with 
a  passionate  hatred. 

The  outlawry  and  robbery  which  the  confused 
state  of  the  country  had  begotten,  and  which  had 


30  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

been  nourished  by  hatred  for  the  ruler,  Herod  suc- 
ceeded in  suppressing  temporarily.  But  it  broke 
out  again  as  soon  as  he  was  dead.  His  sons,  Herod 
Antipas,  who  ruled  Galilee  and  Perea,  and  Arche- 
laus,  who  ruled  Judea  and  Samaria,  were  just  as 
mean  as  the  father  had  been,  but  they  were  not  as 
able.  So  the  robbers  had  breathing  room  once 
more,  and  resumed  activities.  Judas,  the  son  of  the 
arch-robber  Hezekias,  began  to  terrorize  Galilee 
(Jos.  Ant.  17,  10,  5);  two  thousand  of  Herod's 
soldiers  spread  consternation  through  Idumea  (Jos. 
Wars,  2,  3,  4);  a  Simon  and  his  band  intimidated 
the  inhabitants  of  Perea  (Jos.  Wars,  2,  4,  2),  while 
a  certain  Athronges  and  his  giant  brothers  frightened 
the  people  in  Judea.  (Jos,  Wars,  2,  4,  3.)  How 
long  this  was  kept  up  we  cannot  certainly  say,  but 
it  was  still  going  on  when  Jesus  taught.  Robbers 
stole  and  killed  and  destroyed  (John  x.  10),  climbed 
over  the  stockades  and  robbed  the  folds,  and  made 
traveling,  except  in  company,  unsafe.    (Luke  x.  30.) 

The  taxes  imposed  by  Herod  were  enormously 
heavy.  Herod  had  been  a  great  builder,  as  well  as 
a  great  warrior.  His  wars  and  extravagance  as  a 
builder  created  great  expense  Not  since  the  day 
of  Solomon  had  Israel  had  a  king  who  spent  so  much 
on  building.  Augustus  Hked  him  for  it,  but  the 
people  did  not.     They  knew  who  had  to  pay  for  it. 

He  rebuilt  Samaria,  and  named  it  Sebaste  (Jos. 
Ant.  15,  8,  5);  Capharsaba,  and  named  it  Antipatris; 


CONDITION  OF  THE   PEOPLE  ^i 

Anthedon,  and  called  it  Agrippaeum  (Jos.  Wars,  I, 
21,  8);  Strato's  Tower,  and  named  it  Caesarea  (Jos. 
Ant.  1 5,  9,  6) .  In  the  Jordan  Valley,  north  of  Jericho, 
he  founded  Phasaehs.  (Ant.  i6,  5,  2.)  In  different 
parts  of  the  country  he  built  strongholds  to  strengthen 
the  country's  defenses.  He  spent  much  money  out- 
side of  Palestine.  Tyre,  Sidon,  Byblus,  Berytus, 
Tripolis,  Ptolemais,  Damascus,  Chios,  Nicopolis, 
Antioch;  even  Athens  and  Lacedaemon  were  beau- 
tified by  his  gifts.  He  built  theaters  and  amphi- 
theaters, galleries  and  aqueducts,  hippodromes  and 
palaces, and  at  great  cost  laid  out  parks  and  gardens. 
(Jos.  Wars,  5,  4,  4;  Jos.  Ant.  15,  8,  I.)  The 
temple  at  Jerusalem  he  reconstructed  on  so  grand  a 
scale  that  in  comparison  with  it,  *'even  the  famous 
temple  built  by  Solomon  appeared  poor  and  insig- 
nificant." (Jos.  Wars,  I,  21,  i.)  Besides  these 
building  enterprises  he  spent  lavishly  on  games. 

His  son,  Herod  Antipas,  was  also  a  builder. 
He  rebuilt  on  a  larger  scale  the  city  of  Sepphoris, 
fortified  Betharamphtha,  and  built  an  entirely  new 
city  on  the  western  shore  of  the  lake  of  Galilee, 
which  he  called  Tiberias.  Archelaus,  too,  was  fond 
of  building.  A  richer  country  than  Palestine  would 
have  been  drained  by  such  extravagances. 

How  large  the  taxes  were  will  probably  never  be 
known.  Shortly  after  Herod's  death  a  committee 
of  Jews  stated  to  the  emperor  that  Herod  had  scan- 
dalously treated  them,  had  filled  the  nation  full  of 


32  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

poverty,  that  they  had  borne  more  calamities  from 
Herod  in  a  few  years  than  their  fathers  had  during 
all  the  interval  of  time  that  had  passed  since  they 
had  returned  from  Babylon  in  the  reign  of  Xerxes. 
(Jos.  Wars,  2,  6,  2.)  It  is  said  that  he  exacted 
about  three  milhon  dollars  from  the  people.  His 
children  did  not  receive  quite  that  amount,^  but  to 
raise  what  they  received  and  what  the  Roman  gov- 
ernment demanded,  nearly  everything  had  been 
taxed.  There  was  a  tax  on  the  produce  of  land, 
one-tenth  for  grain  and  one-fifth  for  wine  and  fruit. 
(Jos.  Ant.  15,  9,  I.  Edersheim,  Jewish  Social  Life, 
p.  54.)  There  was  a  tax  of  one  denarius  on  every 
person,  exempting  only  aged  people  over  sixty-five 
years,  and  girls  and  boys  under  the  age  of  twelve  and 
fourteen  respectively  (Hamburger  N.  S.  p.  965.) 
Then  there  was  an  income  tax.  If  the  same  rate 
which  was  paid  in  Syria  maintained  in  Palestine,  it 
amounted  to  one  per  cent.  (Jos.  App.  Syr.  50.) 
There  were  also  taxes  levied  on  trades,  such  as  that 
of  hosier,  weaver,  furrier,  and  goldsmith,  and  on 
movable  property,  such  as  horses,  oxen,  asses,  ships, 
and  slaves.  (Marquandt,  Staatsverwaltung,  ii,  p. 
226.)  The  duties  paid  on  imported  goods  varied 
from  two  and  one-half  to  twelve  per  cent.  (Eder- 

*  Herod  Antipas  received  two  hundred  talents  from  Galilee; 
Archelaus  had  received  about  double  that  amount  from  Judea.ldumea, 
and  Samaria;  Philip,  another  son,  drew  from  Batanea,  Trachinitis,  and 
Auranitas  about  half  as  much;  while  a  daughter,  Salome,  received  sixty 
talents  from  the  cities  of  Jamnia,  Ashdod,  and  Phasaelis.  (los.Wars  2, 
6,  3.)  This  amounts  to  only  about  a  million  dollars,  but  this  was  at  a 
time  when  a  laborer  earned  about  sixteen  cents  a  day. 


CONDITION  OF  THE   PEOPLE  33 

sheim,  Jewish  Social  Life,  p.  55.)  Then  the  homes 
were  taxed,  at  least  the  city  homes  (Jos.  Ant.  19, 
6,  3),  and  there  was  bridge  money  and  road  money 
to  be  paid.  There  was  also  a  tax  on  what  was  pub- 
licly bought  and  sold,  for  the  removal  of  which  tax 
the  people  plead  with  Archelaus,  apparently  in  vain. 
0OS.  Ant.  17,  8,  4.)  Besides  this,  every  city  had 
its  local  administration  and  raised  money  to  pay  its 
officials,  maintain  and  build  synagogues,  elementary 
schools,  public  baths,  and  roads,  the  city  walls, 
gates,  and  other  general  requirements.     (Hamburger 

u.  s.  pp.  429-431.) 

How  much  the  Roman  government  collected 
cannot  be  ascertained,  but  there  came  no  relief  to 
Judea  with  the  deposition  and  banishment  of  Arche- 
laus in  6  A.  D.,  and  with  its  incorporation  with 
Syria  as  a  Roman  province.  Tacitus  relates  how 
the  discontent  occasioned  by  the  burdensome  taxa- 
tion in  the  year  \^  A.  D.  assumed  a  most  threaten- 
ing character  not  only  in  Judea,  but  also  throughout 
Syria.  (Tacitus  Annals  II.  42,  43.  Comp.  for  year 
33  A.  D.  Annals  VI.  16,  17.)  This  discontent  would 
not  have  come  had  direct  Roman  taxation  been  an 
improvement  upon  that  which  prevailed  under 
the  Herods. 

The  fiscal  arrangements  of  the  empire  were  very 
poor.  Taxes  were  farmed  out  to  the  highest  bid- 
ders, who  in  turn  would  farm  them  out  again.  They 
who  got  the  contract  were  not  paid  by  the  govern- 


34  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

ment  from  the  taxes  they  collected,  so  that  their 
support,  or  income,  must  be  added  to  the  taxes. 
How  large  that  was  we  cannot  know,  but  it  was 
very  large,  as  the  collectors  would,  taking  advan- 
tage of  their  position,  often  be  very  extortionate. 
Amid  these  unfortunate  economic  conditions — an- 
archy, war,  extravagance,  and  taxation — the  people 
grew  poorer  and  poorer.  Business  became  more 
and  more  interrupted,  and  want,  in  growing  fre- 
quency, showed  its  emaciated  features. 

Of  course  the  people  felt  bitter  towards  the 
Herods  and  the  Romans,  and  they  felt  as  bitter 
towards  the  rich.  It  was  a  bitter  world  into  which 
the  Saviour  came.  *'To  pass  through  the  literature 
of  the  time,"  says  Rogge,  *'is  like  passing  through 
Dante's  Inferno,  except  that  nowhere  appears  any 
trace  of  that  divine  pity  which  the  great  ItaUan 
permits.'* 

Evidences  of  hatred  toward  the  rich  are  espe- 
cially frequent  in  the  book  of  Enoch,  in  the  part  of 
it  which  was  written  a  little  before  the  birth  of  Jesus. 

''Woe  unto  you,"  it  reads,  ''who  heap  up  silver 
and  gold  and  say  we  are  growing  rich,   we  have 

acquired  everything  we  desire Like  water 

your  lies  will  flow  away,  your  riches  will  not  abide 
with  you,  but  shall  suddenly  disappear,  for  you  have 
acquired  it  all  in  unrighteousness,  and  you  shall  be 
given  over  to  great  condemnation.  (Enoch  Ixxxxvii. 
8-10.)     Woe  unto  you  sinners,  for  your  riches  made 


CONDITION  OF   THE   PEOPLE  35 

you  appear  like  the  righteous,  but  your  hearts  con- 
vict you  of  being  sinners Woe  unto  you 

who  devour  the  finest  of  the  wheat  ....  and 
tread  under  foot  the  lowly  with  your  might.  (Enoch 
Ixxxxvi.  4-5.)  Woe  unto  you,  for  you  have  trusted 
in  your  riches,  and  from  your  riches  ye  shall  depart, 
because  ye  have  not  remembered  the  most  high  God 
in  the  days  of  your  riches,  you  have  committed  blas- 
phemy and  unrighteousness,  and  become  ready  for 
the  day  of  slaughter  and  the  day  of  darkness  and  the 
day  of  great  judgment.'*  (Enoch  Ixxxxiv.  7-9.) 
See  also  Enoch  Ixxxxviii.  3;  Ixxxxix.  13;  ciii.  5. 

There  was  good  reason  for  this  hatred,  judging 
from  the  stories  in  the  Gospels.  The  rich  were 
very  hard.  We  read  of  one  who  dressed  in  purple 
and  fared  sumptuously  every  day,  and  who  had  a 
beggar  lying  near  his  gate  to  get  some  of  the  table 
crumbs  which  were  cast  into  the  street  for  the  dogs. 
(Luke  xvi.  19.)  Blind  and  lame  people  sat  by  the 
roadside  or  at  the  door  of  the  temple  endeavoring  to 
get  alms.  (Acts  8,  3;  Luke  xviii.  35.)  They  that 
were  slow  in  coming,  we  can  gather  from  the  means 
employed  to  get  them,  as  feigning  to  be  blind  or 
lame  (Pea.  8,  9).  Philo  complains  bitterly  of  the 
indifference  of  the  wealthy  to  the  poor,  who  were 
appropriating,  he  says,** The  whole  of  nature's  liber- 
ality themselves  and  giving  no  share  of  their  wealth 
to  any  one."  (Philo  on  the  Three  Virtues,  IIL  8.) 
Organized  endeavor  to  help  the  poor  there  was  none. 


36  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Not  until  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  when 
practically  the  whole  nation  was  steeped  in  poverty 
and  the  former  privileged  classes  felt  the  pinch  of 
poverty  themselves,  was  such  a  thing  attempted.  In 
courts  of  law  a  poor  man's  rights  were  not  regarded. 
Jesus  tells  us  of  a  widow  whom  the  judge  shame- 
fully neglected,  presumably  because  she  had  no 
bribe  to  offer,  until  her  persistency  won  where  the 
righteousness  of  her  cause  was  impotent.  (Luke 
xviii.  1-3.) 

Without  bribes  or  gifts  wrongdoers  were  seldom 
brought  to  trial,  unless  the  offense  was  committed 
against  Rome.  A  few  years  before  Christ's  time  a 
commission  of  Jews  that  waited  upon  the  Emperor 
Augustus,  against  the  appointment  of  Archelaus  as 
Herod's  successor,  stated  that  Herod  had  forced 
them  to  give  presents;  that  there  was  no  way  of 
obtaining  freedom  from  unjust  violence  without 
giving  gold  and  silver  for  it;  that  he  had  upon  un- 
just pretext  slain  several  of  the  nobility  whose  prop- 
erty had  then  been  appropriated;  and  that  he  had 
condemned  unjustly  others  to  the  forfeiture  of  what 
they  possessed.     (Jos.  Ant.  17,  ii,  2.) 

How  hard  the  debtor  class  fared  we  gather  from 
Jesus*  warning  against  the  creditor.  ** Agree  with 
thine  adversary  quickly,  whiles  thou  art  in  the  way 
with  him;  lest  at  any  time  the  adversary  deHver  thee 
to  the  judge,  and  the  judge  deliver  thee  to  the  officer, 
and  thou  be  cast  into  prison.    Verily  I  say  unto  thee, 


CONDITION  OF  THE  PEOPLE  37 

Thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence,  till  thou 
hast  paid  the  uttermost  farthing."  (Matt.  v.  25-26.) 
Rich  men  who  remitted  to  their  debtors  were  rare, 
the  unmerciful  creditors  with  the  bailiff  at  hand  were 
frequent.  In  one  parable  one  of  the  debtors  is 
threatened  with  being  sold,  and  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren with  him,  and  another  debtor  is  strangled. 
(Matt,  xviii.  25,  28.)  If  one  was  so  unfortunate  as 
to  be  sold,  he  could  be  subjected  to  all  the  indignities 
to  which  the  slave  class  is  liable.  Male  and  female 
slaves  were  beaten  (Luke  xii.  46)  and  severely- 
scourged.  (Matt.  xxiv.  51.)  From  Philo  we  gather 
that  slaves  were  yoked  to  the  plow,  like  oxen,  and 
loaded  down  with  burdens,  and  reduced  by  threats 
and  punishment  **to  painful  despondency."  (Ten 
Festivals,  Vol.  III.  p.  274,  Yonge's  Ed.) 

If  the  people  as  a  class  felt  bitter  towards  the 
Romans,  the  Herods,  and  the  rich,  as  the  authors  of 
their  misfortunes,  there  were  a  few  who  blamed 
themselves.  They  believed  that  if  Israel  would  re- 
pent their  troubles  would  cease,  that  economic  and 
political  difficulties  have  a  moral  and  a  spiritual 
source.  They  appealed  to  the  scripture,  where 
prosperity  is  promised  to  the  upright.  (Deut.  28.) 
Some  of  these  made  the  unfortunate  mistake  of  giv- 
ing the  Bible  promises  to  the  nation  an  individualistic 
interpretation.  Individual  misfortunes  were  held  to 
indicate  sin.  This  added  to  the  existing  unhappi- 
ness.     '* Rabbi,"  asked  the  disciple,  **who  did  sin, 


$8  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

this  man  or  his  parents,  that  he  should  be  bom 
blind?'*  (John  ix.  2.)  Blindness,  accidents,  pov- 
erty, and  disease,  it  was  thought,  were  due  to  sin. 
(Luke  xiii.  1-5.)  The  lesson  of  Job's  sufferings  had 
not  been  well  learned.  *' Whoever,"  asked  Eliphas, 
* 'perished  being  innocent,  or  when  were  the  right- 
eous cut  off.?  According  as  I  have  seen,  they  that 
plow  iniquity  and  sow  trouble  reap  the  same."  (Job 
iv.  7-8.)  His  friends  Bildad  and  Zophar  said  vir- 
tually the  same  (Job  viii.  6),  and  God  said  that  their 
reasonings  were  wrong.  But  Israel  had  not  grasped 
this  fact,  and  so  these  poor  unfortunate  people  bore 
in  addition  to  the  discomforts  occasioned  by  their 
oppression  and  poverty,  the  imputation  and  sus- 
picion of  guilt. 

The  need  of  improvement  was  certainly  great. 
As  the  natural  economic  advantages  of  the  country 
were  many,  the  opportunities  for  improvement  were 
splendid.  If  they  could  only  get  rid  of  certain  evils: 
*'The  Herodian  house,"  said  one,  ''taxation,"  said 
another,  "disorder,"  remarked  a  third.  "What 
the  country  needs  is  a  return  to  the  laws  of  the 
scripture,"  said  a  fourth.  Each  reformer  had  his 
panacea.     What  was  Christ's,  or  had  he  none? 

It  cannot  escape  one  that  it  was  not  any  of  the 
specifics  which  the  average  reformer  would  have 
urged.  There  is  not  a  word  in  his  teachings  about 
the  evil  and  expensiveness  of  war,  or  the  cost  of 
extravagance;  not  a  syllable  against  taxation,  or  the 


CONDITION  OF  THE   PEOPLE  39 

Herodian  or  Roman  governments;  not  a  whisper 
against  the  cruelty  of  slavery,  or  the  distractions  of 
anarchy  and  robbery. 

But  before  considering  what  his  remedy  was,  it 
is  necessary  to  look  at  the  economic  laws  of  the 
scriptures,  since  it  is  to  these  that  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  are  most  closely  related. 


THE     HUMANITARIAN     LAWS     AND 

TEACHINGS    OF   THE    OLD 

TESTAMENT 


"For  what  great  nation  is  there,  that  hath  God  so  nigh 
unto  them  as  the  Lord  our  God  is  whensoever  we  call  upon 
him  ?  And  what  great  nation  is  there,  that  hath  statutes  and 
judgments  so  righteous  as  all  this  law,  which  I  set  before 
you  this  day?"    (Deut.  iv.  7,  8.) 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  HUMANITARIAN  LAWS  AND  TEACHINGS 
OF  THE  OLD   TESTAMENT 

The  laws  and  teachings  which  God  gave  Israel 
and  which  are  contained  in  the  Old  Testament  are 
surprisingly  beautiful.  Outside  of  those  contained 
in  the  New  Testament,  none  have  ever  been  devised 
which  are  better  calculated  to  further  a  people's 
happiness.  Indeed,  this  is  their  purpose,  their  con- 
trolling purpose. 

The  New  Testament  books  look  out  upon  a 
future  life,  and  the  supreme  purpose  of  their  authors 
is  to  lead  men  to  prepare  for  that;  the  Old  Testa- 
ment books  have  no  such  outlook.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  a  few  of  the  later  books,  the  interests  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  centeied  in  the  life  here.  To  get 
an  ideal  state,  a  state  in  which  everything  is  done  in 
harmony  with  God's  will,  is  its  great  purpose. 

One  of  the  most  important  things  which  the  Old 
Testament  teaches  towards  attaining  an  ideal  state 
is  its  teaching  concerning  work.  Work  in  Oriental 
states,  and  even  in  some  modern  states,  was  held  in 
dishonor.  When  Plato  portrayed  his  ideal  republic, 
he  had  such  an  aversion  to  work  that  he  considered 
men  who  labored  unfit  to  have  a  voice  in  its  manage- 
43 


V 


44  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

ment.  Aristotle,  too,  regards  it  with  contempt. 
(Aris.  Polit.  8,  3.)  Among  the  Hebrews  to  work 
was  noble,  because  the  Bible  had  ennobled  it.  The 
Old  Testament  tells  of  the  manual  activities  of 
Israel's  greatest  men.  It  tells  of  the  activities  of 
Abraham  moving  from  spot  to  spot  to  feed  his 
cattle;  of  Jacob  serving  Laban,  his  uncle,  for  wages; 
of  Joseph  toiling  for  Potiphar,  and  in  the  prison  of 
Egypt;  of  Moses  herding  sheep  for  a  Median  priest; 
of  Samuel  doing  the  work  of  a  chore-boy;  of  Saul,  the 
king,  farming;  and  of  the  prophet  Amos  herding  cattle 
and  gathering  wild  figs.  It  tells  us  how  God  labored, 
and  inspired  Bazaleel  and  Aholiab  to  work  in  gold, 
silver,  brass,  stone,  and  wood,  just  as  he  inspired 
Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  to  prophesy.     (Ex.  xxxi.  1-5.) 

In  the  book  of  Proverbs  we  have  drawn  the  por- 
trait of  an  ideal  woman.  She  is  described  as  rising 
early  while  it  is  yet  night,  to  provide  for  her  house- 
hold, and  busy  all  day  buying,  selling,  spinning, 
weaving,  and  working  in  the  vineyard,  that  her  house 
might  be  clothed  and  her  husband  be  honored.  (Prov. 
xxxi.  10-31.) 

The  good  man  eats  the  labor  of  his  own  hand 
and  is  busy  like  the  ants  all  day  long,  while  he  who 
is  a  sluggard  is  spoken  of  with  contempt.^  The 
rights  of  labor  were  nobly  respected.  On  no  occa- 
sion were  the  wages  of  a  laborer  to  be  withheld,  not 


*  Ps.  cxxviii.  2;  Prov.  vi.  6-11;  Prov.  x.  26;  Prov.  xv.  19;  Prov.  xviii, 
q;  Prov.  XX.  13;  Prov.  xxiv.  33,  34;  Ecc.  x.  18. 


HUMANITARIAN   LAWS  45 

even  for  one  day.  The  laborer  was  worthy  of  his 
hire.  Oppression  of  a  laborer  must  in  nowise  be 
allowed,  no  matter  what  his  origin,  and  to  sell  one 
into  slavery  was  to  be  punished  with  death.  (Deut. 
xxiv.  7.) 

Such  a  healthy  view  of  work  is  of  the  utmost 
importance.  Labor  is  the  basis  of  character  and  the 
security  of  the  state,  without  which  the  best  inter- 
ests of  a  people  can  neither  be  secured  nor  main- 
tained. 

Though  the  Old  Testament  knew  slavery,  it  is  of 
the  mildest  character.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in 
other  Oriental  countries.  It  is  always  remembered 
that  the  slave  is  a  man  who  has  worth  for  his  own 
sake,  and  is  before  God  the  equal  of  others.  When 
the  sabbath  dawned  with  its  rest  for  the  weary,  the 
slave  was  exempted  from  work,  and  on  feast-days  he 
was  to  be  kindly  remembered.  (Deut.  v.  14.)  The 
abuse  of  slaves  was  not  to  be  tolerated.  Bodily 
injuries,  such  as  were  inflicted  upon  slaves  in  Rome 
and  other  countries  much  later,  would  purchase  him 
freedom.  (Ex.  xxi.  26.)  Degrading  terms  were  not 
appUed.  In  Rome  he  was  called  a  mancipium;  that 
is,  a  captured  article;  in  Greece  a  8dvXos;  that  is, 
a  bondsman — from  dim  to  bind:  but  in  Israel  he 
was  called  an  ^^3 — a  servant.  He  bore  a  name 
involving  no  disgrace,  for  the  name  servant  was 
borne  by  Israel's  most  distinguished  men,  as  Abra- 
ham (Ps.  cv.  6),  David  (Ps.  xviii.  i),  Joshua  (Jos. 


46  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

xxiv.  29),  Eliakim  (Isa.  xxii.  20),  and  Zerobbabel 
(Haggai  ii.  23.) 

No  Hebrew  could  be  enslaved  for  all  his  life, 
unless  he  requested  it  himself.  (Ex.  xxi.  6.)  He  was 
to  be  freed  the  seventh  year,  which  was  called  the 
Sabbatic  year.  On  the  day  on  which  he  obtained 
his  freedom  he  had  to  be  liberally  provided  with 
treasures  from  his  master's  flocks,  wine-press,  and 
threshing-floor.  (Deut.  xv.  12-14.)^ 

For  the  weak  and  the  dependent  the  Old  Testa- 
ment laws  make  the  kindest  provisions.  Duty,  not 
right,  is  their  spirit,  and  it  is  the  word  most  often 
upon  the  Hps  of  the  Old  Testament  teachers. 
Among  the  Romans  a  father  had  absolute  right  as 
over  against  his  wife  and  children.  It  was  not  un- 
common for  a  Roman  father  to  sell  his  child  into 
slavery,  or  expose  it  to  be  brought  up  by  another. 
In  this  the  law  protected  him.  Among  the  Hebrews 
it  was  wholly  different.  Children  were  a  heritage 
of  the  Lord  (Ps.  cxxvii.  3);  that  is,  they  belonged 
to  the  Lord,  and  were  intrusted  to  man  to  develop. 
To  judge  the  fatherless,  and  plead  for  the  widow 
was  a  commendable  virtue.    (Isaiah  i.  17.) 

Men  speak  of  the  beautiful  Roman  laws.  There 
are  none.  The  so-called  beautiful  Roman  laws  are 
Roman  laws  revised  by  Justinian,  who  was  a  Chris- 

*  Compare  with  this  the  teachings  of  Aristotle.  "The  slave  may 
be  annoyed  without  the  risk  of  punishment."  (Nic.  v.  8.)  "No  justice 
exists  in  relation  to  slaves."  (Nic.  v.  lo.)  "There  is  no  talk  of  love  and 
justice  towards  them  [slaves]  any  more  than  towards  an  ass  or  a  horse." 
(Nic.  viii.  13.) 


HUMANITA£,IA^i.  LAWS  47 

tian.  They  are  beautiful  because  they  were  made 
to  accord  in  spirit  with  the  laws  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which  made  the  teachings  of  Jesus  a  possibihty. 

Then  there  is  no  book  in  which  the  poor  are  so 
nobly  remembered.  Nowhere  is  there  such  stress 
laid  upon  the  importance  of  charity.  Its  material, 
whether  it  is  of  a  legislator,  a  psalmist,  a  sage,  hke 
the  author  of  Job  or  Proverbs,  or  a  prophet,  throbs 
with  care  for  the  needy.  If  a  farmer  reaped  his 
grain  he  had  to  leave  to  the  poor  the  corners  of  his 
field  (Lev.  xiv.  9),  his  reapers  had  to  let  fall  hand- 
fuls  for  them  to  glean  (Lev.  xxiii.  22),  and  when  he 
hauled  his  sheaves  and  one  was  forgotten  he  could 
not  go  back  for  it,  it  was  to  be  the  poor  man's  sheaf. 
(Deut.  xxiv.  19.)  The  gleanings  of  the  olive 
orchards  and  vineyards  were  also  for  the  poor. 
(Deut.  xxiv.  20-21.)  Injunctions  to  considerate- 
ness  for  the  poor  are  many,  and  all  sorts  of  blessings 
are  promised  to  the  generous,  while  the  niggardly 
are  threatened  with  curses.  (Ps.  xU.  I,  2;  Prov. 
xxviii.  27;  Prov.  xxix.  7.)  The  prophet  Isaiah 
represents  God  as  saying  that  fasting  and  prayer  are 
unavailing  unless  one  is  kind  to  the  toilers,  the 
hungry,  and  the  poor  (Isaiah  Iviii.  3-8) ;  while  Daniel 
says  that  giving  alms  (translated  righteousness)  and 
showing  mercy  to  the  poor  cancels  one's  iniquities. 
(Dan.  iv.  27;  Hebrew  Dan.  iv.  26.) 

Nor  is  any  book  so  considerate  of  a  poor  man's 
interest.     It  urges  charity,  but  as  a  last  resort.     It 


48  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

seeks  rather  to  help  the  poor  to  become  independent 
of  it.  To  that  end  it  urges  helping  the  poor  with 
loans.  God's  favor  is  promised  to  such  as  are 
generous  in  loaning.  Other  inducements  are  not 
held  out.     It  is  assumed  that  God's  favor  is  enough. 

Interest-taking  was  forbidden.  It  was  too  much 
like  profiting  by  a  poor  man's  adversity.  Borrow- 
ing money  in  order  to  make  money,  i.  e.,  for  busi- 
ness purposes,  was  not  known.  Society  had  not  yet 
sufl&ciently  developed  for  that.  Men  only  borrowed 
because  they  were  poor.  To  charge  them  interest 
under  such  circumstances  was  grievously  wicked.^ 
All  the  books  that  touch  on  interest-taking  forbid  it, 
prophetical,  legal,  philosophical,  or  poetical.  It  is 
forbidden  in  every  code.  (Ex.  xxii.  25;  Deut.  xxiii. 
19;  Lev.  xxv.  37-39.)  Ezekiel  classes  it  with  idol- 
atry, robbery,  murder,  bloodshed,  and  anarchy 
(Ezek.  xviii.  12-13),  and  gives  its  prevalence  as  one 
of  the  causes  of  Jerusalem's  downfall.  (Ezek.  xxii. 
12.)  The  author  of  Proverbs  says  that  it  forfeits 
God's  blessing  and  turns  prayers  into  curses  (Prov, 
xxviii.  8-10.)  The  psalmist  says  that  he  who  takes 
no  interest  shall  sojourn  in  God's  tabernacle,  i.  e., 
enjoy  God's  presence  and  favor.  (Ps.  xv.  1-5.) 
See  also  Jer.  xv.  10. 

If  a  loan  was  made  and  the  person  who  received 

*  The  Phoenicians  being  traders,  borrowed  money  for  speculative 
purposes.  It  is  probably  partly  on  that  account  that  the  Israelites 
could  charge  them  interest.  (Deut.  xxiii.  19,  20.)  Since  they  helped 
them  in  their  speculations  it  seemed  right  that  they  should  share  in 
the  profits  that  came  from  them. 


HUMANITARIAN  LAWS  49 

it  could  not  pay  it  back  at  the  time  promised,  no 
violent  measures  were  allowed  in  the  collection.  No 
poor  man  was  to  be  so  pressed  as  to  suffer  for  life's 
necessities.  To  enter  a  house  and  forcibly  fetch 
one's  due  is  expressly  forbidden.  (Deut.  xxiv. 
10-13.)  Moreover,  should  one  after  the  lapse  of 
seven  years  still  be  unable  to  repay  the  loan  it  was 
canceled.  (Deut.  xv.  1-3.)  No  man  should  suffer 
from  having  a  debt  hang  over  him  all  his  life.  If  he 
had  not  paid  it  in  seven  years  it  was  presumed  that 
he  could  not  pay  it.  This  assumes  an  honesty  which 
many  debtors  do  not  now  possess.  Neither  did  they, 
in  course  of  time,  in  Israel,  and  the  law  was  re- 
pealed as  impractical.  This  was  not  done,  however, 
until  the  time  of  Hillel,  about  fifty  years  before 
Jesus'  period. 

The  Old  Testament  is  full  of  love  of  honesty, 
and  praise  of  justice  between  man  and  man.  It 
hates  the  false  balance,  the  lying  tongue,  the  over- 
reaching spirit.  Its  pages  bristle  with  threats  against 
the  oppressor.  Nowhere  are  there  sterner  denunci- 
ations of  the  traducers  of  justice  than  in  the  Psalms 
and  in  the  Prophets.  The  woes  against  such  as 
crush  the  needy  and  oppress  the  poor,  withhold 
wages  and  deceive  in  trade,  that  they  may  prosper, 
lie  on  beds  of  ivory  and  stretch  themselves  upon 
couches  in  costly  castles,  eating  the  choicest  foods 
and  sipping  high-priced  wines  to  the  sound  of  song 
and  instruments  of  music,   the  woes   pronounced 


50  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

against  such  people  is  terrible.  (Amos  ii.  6,  7;  iv. 
1-3,  V.  II;  vi.  1-8;  Jer.  xxii.  13-17.)  Their  sin 
will  be  avenged  (Ps.  xii.  5),  their  crimes  remembered 
(Amos  viii.  7),  their  power  broken  (Ps.  xxxvii.  14, 
15),  their  habitation  laid  low  (Micah  iii.  9,  12),  their 
city  become  a  heap  (Micah  iii.  12),  and  their  land 
ruined  (Amos  viii,  8).^ 

The  laws  of  the  Bible  concerning  wealth  are 
ost  noble.  They  make  property  sacred,  and  do 
not  allow  its  accumulation  into  the  hands  of  a  few. 
Moreover,  they  seek  to  secure  a  fair  and  equitable 
distribution  of  it  for  all. 

Wealth  consisted  mainly  in  land,  and  every  fiftieth 
year  there  was  to  be  a  redistribution  of  this.  This 
fiftieth  year  was  called  the  year  of  jubilee.  The  old 
families  that  had  lost  their  land  could  then  return  to 
their  inheritances.  (Lev.  xxv.  10.)  With  this  year 
in  view  land  was  not  sold  in  perpetuity.  (Lev.  xxv. 
1-23.)  Only  the  use  of  the  land  or  the  crops  were 
sold.  (Lev.  xxv.  15,  16.)  If  the  year  of  jubilee 
was  fifty  years  off,  the  use  of  the  land  could  be  sold 
for  fifty  years;  if  it  was  only  one  year  off,  it  could  be 
sold  for  only  one  year.  If,  after  having  sold  it,  one 
was  helped  by  a  friend,  or  enabled  in  some  other 
way  to  raise  the  requisite  price,  the  law  provided 
that  he  could  get  it  back  again.     (Lev.  xxv.  25-26.) 

Capital  was  carefully  protected  and  stealing  was 

*  Other  places  in  which  oppressors  are  denounced  are  Ezek.  xviii. 
18;  Ezek.  xxii.  23-31;  Ezek.  xxxiv.  i-ii;  Ezek.  xlv.  9,  10;  Jer.  v.  27-29; 
Jer.  vii.  5-7;  Jer.  xxii.  13-17;  Isa.  x.  1-3. 


HUMANITARIAN   LAWS  5^ 

severely  punished.  The  thief  was  compelled  to 
make  restitution,  sometimes  four  and  five  fold  (Ex. 
xxii.  i),  and  sometimes  sevenfold  (Prov.  vi.  31). 
If  the  thief  could  not  make  restitution,  he  could  be 
sold  into  slavery,  and  if  he  was  put  to  death,  his 
slayer  could  not  be  punished.  (Ex.  xxii.  2,  3.)  The 
absolute  ownership  of  capital  was,  however,  never 
acknowledged.  God  was  the  owner  of  everything. 
(Ps.  xxiv.  i;  Ps.  1.  12;  Job  xH.  11;  Deut.  x.  14.) 
As  regards  one's  fellow-men,  ownership  was  abso- 
lute, certainly  absolute  enough  so  that  infringements 
upon  it  could  be  severely  punished. 

Because  love  of  money  is  so  apt  to  occasion  op- 
pression and  other  evils,  the  Old  Testament  endeav- 
ors earnestly  to  curb  it.  Riches,  it  teaches,  make 
people  proud  and  tempt  men  to  forget  God  (Deut. 
viii.  1 1- 1 4),  are  temporary  and  of  no  value  after 
death  (Ps.  xlix.  16-17).  Neither  does  one  know 
who  will  gather  them  after  he  is  gone.  (Ps. 
xxxix.  6.) 

It  further  declares  that  they  are  unsatisfying, 
intoxicating,  enslaving,  of  value  only  for  the  eye  to 
look  at,  but  that  they  bring  neither  rest  nor  right- 
eousness (Ecc.  V.  10-17),  The  ideal  condition  is 
described  as  being  one  of  neither  wealth  nor  poverty, 
but  of  sufficiency.     (Prov.  xxx.  8-10.) 

Nor  is  there  anywhere  a  literature  in  all  Oriental 
life  in  which  the  power  of  the  king  is  so  limited,  or 
in  which  he  is  so  freely  criticised  when  he  dared  to 


52  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

be  oppressive.  In  other  states  men  existed  for  the 
king,  in  Israel  the  king  was  for  the  people.  Go  to 
Egypt,  look  at  the  great  pyramids,  on  one  of  them 
— the  largest — one  hundred  thousand  men  are  said 
to  have  worked  by  forced  labor  for  twenty  years. 
A  hundred  thousand  men  driven  by  force  through 
twenty  years  to  build  a  tomb  for  a  king!  Pass  from 
Egypt  to  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates.  The  king 
can  muster  thousands  of  men  at  once  and  throw 
them  away,  and  their  loss  was  not  considered  to  be 
theirs,  but  his.  Man  as  man  has  no  worth  except 
for  the  king  and  his  ends.  But  among  the  Hebrews, 
how  different!  The  Old  Testament  taught  that 
men  had  worth  for  their  own  sake,  that  every  man 
of  Israel  was  precious  in  God's  sight,  that  the 
humblest  citizen  was  the  king's  brother  and  not  his 
slave.  God  made  man  in  his  image.  The  king  as 
God's  representative  was  to  bless  them  and  not  to 
exploit  them,  and  his  rights  and  duties  were  care- 
fully defined  by  statutory  law.  (Deut.  xvii.  14-20.) 
With  such  regulations  generally  obeyed,  the 
Israelites  could  not  fail  of  being  a  happy  people, 
and  while  they  obeyed  they  were  happy.  Prosper- 
ous, free,  honest,  God-fearing,  peaceable,  they  sat 
each  man  under  his  own  vine  and  under  his  own  fig- 
tree,  enjoying  his  Maker's  goodness.  They  were 
the  happiest  people  in  antiquity.  The  gloom  that 
is  so  characteristic  of  other  Oriental  people,  and  of 
the  non-Christian  people  now,  as  is  illustrated  by 


HUMANITARIAN  LAWS  53 

their  songs,  did  not  hang  over  Israel.  Sometimes 
we  find  Psalms  that  seem  sad,  yet  how  often  the 
minor  key  in  which  the  first  part  is  written  is 
changed  toward  the  close  into  a  paean  of  victory ! 
What  a  pity  that  they  should  ever  have  ignored  these 
noble  laws  and  teachings.  But  again  and  again  they 
did  it,  and  never  more  than  in  the  days  of  Jesus. 
Nor  was  there  any  HkeHhood  that  matters  would  im- 
prove. The  church  leaders  had  strayed  with  the 
people  and  the  people  with  the  leaders,  to  what 
extent  will  be  considered  in  the  following  chapter. 


THE      FAILURE      OF      THE      JEWISH 

CHURCH    OF   JESUS'    DAY    TO 

IMPROVE    THE    PEOPLE'S 

SOCIAL   CONDITION 


"His  watchmen  are  blind;  they  are  all  without  knowl- 
edge; they  are  all  dumb  dogs,  they  cannot  bark:  dreaming, 
lying  down,  loving  to  slumber.  Yea,  they  are  greedy  dogs, 
they  can  never  have  enough;  and  they  are  shepherds  that 
cannot  understand;  they  have  all  turned  to  their  own  way, 
each  one  to  his  gain,  one  and  all."    (Isaiah  Ivi.  lO,  ll.) 

"And  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  came,  and  tempting 
him  asked  him  to  show  them  a  sign  from  heaven.  But  he 
answered  and  said  unto  them,  when  it  is  evening  ye  say,  It 
will  be  fair  weather,  for  the  heaven  is  red;  and  in  the  morn- 
ing. It  will  be  foul  weather  to-day,  for  the  heaven  is  red  and 
lowering.  Ye  know  how  to  discern  the  face  of  the  heaven; 
but  ye  cannot  discern  the  signs  of  the  times.  An  evil  and 
adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a  sign;  and  there  shall 
no  sign  be  given  unto  it,  but  the  sign  of  Jonah.  And  he  left 
them,  and  departed."    (Matt.  xvi.  I-4.) 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  FAILURE  OF  THE  JEWISH  CHURCH  OF 
JESUS'  DAY  TO  IMPROVE  THE  PEOPLE'S 
SOCIAL  CONDITION 

The  period  of  Jesus'  life  fell  in  a  dark  age  of 
Judaism.  The  Apostle  Paul,  writing  from  what  he 
had  seen,  declares: 

**There  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one; 
There  is  none  that  understandeth; 
There  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God. 
They  have  turned  aside,  they  are  together  become  un- 
profitable ; 
There  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no,  not  so  much  as  one : 
Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre. 
With  their  tongue  they  have  used  deceit. 

There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes." 

— (Rom.  iii.  10-18.) 

Religious  life  was  at  a  low  ebb.  There  were 
places  in  which  people  were  hired  to  attend  the  syna- 
gogue, that  the  worship  of  God  might  continue. 
(Mathews,  New  Testament  Times,  p.  160.)  The 
voice  of  prophecy  had  been  silent  for  centuries,  and 
when  it  was  heard  near  the  waters  of  Bethany  and 
Jordan,  the  people  thought  it  was  the  voice  of  a 
demon.  (Luke  vii.  33.)  Domestic  life  was  bad. 
57 


58  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

The  easiness  with  which  people  secured  a  divorce  re- 
minds one  of  the  corrupt  days  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
According  to  the  school  of  Hillel,  a  man  could  put 
away  his  wife  if  she  spoiled  his  food,  while  a  later 
rabbi,  R.  Akiba,  would  let  a  man  do  it  if  he  found 
one  better  looking  (Gitten  9,  10).  How  shocked 
the  disciples  were  when  Jesus  said  that  there  was 
only  one  proper  ground  on  which  divorce  could  be 
allowed!  Why,  they  said,  if  that  is  so,  if  there  is 
no  other  way  out  of  marriage,  a  man  had  better  not 
marry  at  all.     (Matt.  xix.  3-10.) 

Of  the  prevailing  poverty,  cruelty,  suffering,  and 
oppression,  we  have  already  spoken  in  a  previous 
chapter.  There  was  no  truth,  nor  mercy,  nor  knowl- 
edge of  God  in  the  land.  There  was  naught  but 
swearing  and  breaking  faith  and  killing  and  stealing 
and  committing  adultery;  they  broke  out  and  blood 
touched  blood,  and  therefore  the  land  mourned  and 
the  people  languished,  and  the  Roman  power  bore 
rule,  and  hard  by  the  Holy  Temple  perched  the 
eagle,  the  symbol  of  that  power.  Some  of  the  more 
earnest  people  had  grown  so  tired  of  the  condition 
of  society  that  they  moved  away  from  it.  They 
were  the  Eaaalot  or  ^Effarjvol  or  Essenes.  The  origin 
of  the  name  is  obscure,  but  probably  comes  from 
the  Hebrew  HDH  ghesee,  which  means  pious. 

Tired  of  the  corruption  of  the  cities,  the  strife 
over  riches,  the  cruelty  of  slavery,  the  jealousies  of 
domestic  life,  and  the  deceptions  of  commerce,  they 


THE  PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       59 

resolved  on  founding  a  community  where  these 
things  could  not  enter.  To  that  end  many  went  to 
the  Desert  of  Engedi,  near  the  Dead  Sea  (Pliny, 
Hist.  Nat.  V.  17),  though  some  continued  to  reside 
in  villages  and  towns.  (Jos.  Wars,  2,  8,  4.)  Here 
they  formed  a  brotherhood,  a  society  in  which  there 
should  be  no  individual  wealth,  nor  commerce,  or 
slaves,  and  as  few  women  as  possible.* 

Their  occupation  was  largely  confined  to  agricul- 
ture (Jos.  Wars,  2,  8,  4),  though  seveial  other  kinds 
of  work  were  carried  on.  Commerce  was  forbidden 
as  leading  to  covetousness,  and  so  was  smith-work 
in  armory  by  which  men  are  injured.  (Philo,  The 
Virtuous  Free,  12.) 

There  were  many  admirable  features  about  that 
sect.  Their  Hfe  was  beautifully  gentle,  the  aged 
and  sick  and  those  in  need  they  waited  upon  like 

^  "A  regulation  with  them  is  that  an  individual  coming  forward  to 
join  this  sect  must  sell  his  possessions  and  present  the  price  of  them 
to  the  community,  and  on  receiving  the  money,  the  head  of  the  order 
distributes  it  to  all  according  to  their  necessities."  (Hippolytus,  "Refu- 
tation of  all  Heresies"  g:  14.  The  tenets  of  the  Esseni.)  "They  will 
not  suffer  anything  to  hmder  them  from  having  all  things  in  common, 
so  that  a  rich  man  enjoys  no  more  of  his  wealth  than  he  who  has  noth- 
ing at  all."  (Jos.  Ant.  18: 1-5.)  "There  is  no  one  who  has  a  home  so 
absolutely  his  own  property  that  it  does  not  in  some  way  also  belong  to 
every  one;  for  besides  that  they  all  dwell  together  in  companies,  the 
house  is  open  to  all  those  of  the  same  notion  who  come  to  them  from 
other  quarters;  then  there  is  one  magazine  among  them  all,  their  ex- 
penses are  all  in  common,  their  garments  belong  to  them  all  in  com- 
mon, their  food  is  in  common,  since  they  eat  all  in  messes;  for  there  is 
no  other  people  among  which  you  can  find  a  common  use  of  the  same 
house,  a  common  adoption  of  one  mode  of  living,  and  a  common  use  of 
the  same  table  more  thoroughly  established,  in  fact,  than  among  this 
tribe.  And  is  this  not  natural?  For  whatever  they,  after  having  been 
working  during  the  day,  receive  for  their  wages,  they  do  not  retain  as 
their  own,  but  bring  it  into  the  common  stock,  and  give  any  advantage 
that  is  to  be  derived  from  it  to  all  who  desire  to  avail  themselves  of 
it."  (Philo  Treatise,  Virtuous  Free,  12.  See  also  Hyppolytus  Adv. 
Hear,  g:  14.) 


6o  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

sons  and  daughters,  they  were  pure,  truthful,  kindly, 
chaste,  and  very  hospitable.  But  they  were  utterly 
impractical.  Society  can  never  be  improved  by 
people  who  run  away  from  it.  John  the  Baptist 
might  do  it  and  do  good,  but  he  bade  for  audiences. 
Elijah  the  Tishbite  might  do  it  and  do  good,  but  he 
would  make  occasional  excursions  to  the  centers  of 
population.  But  the  Essenes  did  neither.  There  is 
no  evidence  that  they  gave  the  improvement  of  soci- 
ety any  thought.  They  escaped  from  society,  not  to 
improve  it  by  organizing  a  better  one,  but  to  improve 
themselves.  ''If  the  Pharisees  avoided  as  much  as 
possible  all  intercourse  with  the  unclean  Am-haarez, 
the  Essene  completely  separated  himself  from  the 
multitudes  and  formed  exclusive  societies  in  which 
similarity  of  disposition  and  endeavor  afforded  the 
possibility  of  reaHzing  the  ideal  of  a  life  of  absolute 
ceremonial  cleanness.'*     (Schurer  2,  2,  210.) 

There  have  been  those  who  claimed  that  the 
Essenes  were  the  first  Christians.  This,  among 
others,  is  stated  by  so  great  a  scholar  as  Greatz.  A 
more  unwarranted  statement  can  hardly  be  imagined. 
Christ,  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  society,  and  whose 
first  public  act  was  to  hallow  a  marriage,  an  Essene ! 
The  differences  between  Jesus  and  the  Essenes  are 
radical.  The  Essenes  were  impractical,  while  Jesus 
was  practical;  they  were  sticklers  for  law,  while 
Jesus  never  was;  they  hated  and  despised  women, 
while  Jesus  mingled  much  in  company  of  women; 


THE   PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       6i 

they  would  only  eat  food  prepared  by  a  member  of 
their  order,  while  Jesus  ate  wherever  he  was  invited ; 
they  avoided  the  temple,  Jesus  was  there  often;  they 
objected  to  animal  food,  while  Jesus  never  said  a 
word  against  it.  And  there  are  other  differences, 
as  their  denial  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  their 
opposition  to  animal  sacrifices,  their  prohibition  of 
the  use  of  oil,  and  the  secrecy  of  their  teachings. 
Jesus  taught  publicly,  received  anointings  gratefully, 
affirmed  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  at  least 
once  commanded  a  man  he  had  healed  to  offer  a 
sacrifice.  (Luke  v.  14.)  In  spirit  especially,  Jesus 
and  the  Essenes  were  wholly  unlike. 

That  they  were  kind,  peaceable,  gentle,  hospit- 
able, and  advocates  of  equality  is  no  more  proof 
that  Jesus  was  an  Essene  than  that  Buddha  was  one. 
These  are  moral  truths,  are  the  natural  outgrowth 
of  the  moral  sense,  and  are  indigenous  wherever 
there  are  good  and  great  men. 

The  most  influential  people  of  Jesus'  time  were 
the  Pharisees.  The  name  Pharisee  is  probably  a 
nickname,  Hke  Protestant  and  Methodist,  and  was 
later  adopted  as  their  real  name.  It  means  separa- 
tion, or  separatists.  To  what  sort  of  a  separation, 
whether  from  unclean  things  or  unclean  men,  the 
name  owes  its  origin  is  not  known,  probably  to  a 
separation  from  both . 

To  this  party  belonged  most  of  the  scribes,  some- 
times also  called   lawyers.     These   men  were   the 


62  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

copyists  and  interpreters  of  the  scriptures  As  the 
legal  code  was  embodied  in  the  Old  Testament, 
jurisprudence  among  the  Jews  was  a  part  of  the- 
ology. Sometimes  the  scribes  are  also  called  Rab 
or  Rabbi,  the  meaning  of  which  is  master,  or  my 
masten 

The  picture  we  get  of  these  scribes  and  Pharisees 
in  the  gospels  is  very  unattractive.  John  the  Baptist 
called  them  a  generation  of  vipers.  (Matt.  iii.  7.) 
Luke  calls  them  lovers  of  money.  (Luke  xvi.  14.) 
The  other  evangelists,  too,  show  their  dislike,  but 
call  them  nothing,  while  Jesus  goes  seemingly  out  of 
his  way  in  denouncing  them.  He  accuses  them  of 
vanity,  loving  salutations  in  the  market-places,  the 
chief  sects  in  the  synagogue,  and  the  uppermost 
rooms  at  feasts;  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  devour- 
ing the  substance  of  widows ;  of  insincerity  in  making 
long  prayers  for  pretense  (Mark  xii.  30-40),  of  pride, 
in  making  broad  their  phylacteries  (Matt,  xxiii.  5), 
and  of  destroying  the  Word  of  God  by  making  it  of 
none  effect  through  their  traditions.  (Mark  vii.  13.) 
He  calls  them  hypocrites  (Matt,  xxiii.  13,  14,  15, 
23,  27-29),  whited  sepulchers  (Matt,  xxiii.  27)^ 
proselyters,  making  of  their  converts  children  of  hell 
as  they  were  themselves  (Matt,  xxiii.  15),  blind 
guides  of  the  blind  (Matt,  xxiii.  24),  full  of  extor- 
tion, excess,  hypocrisy,  and  iniquity  (Matt,  xxiii.  25, 
28),  a  generation  of  vipers  (Matt«  xii.  34),  children 
of  the  devil,  whose  will  they  did  (John  viii.  44),  and 


THE   PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       63 

he  said  to  his  disciples  that  unless  their  righteous- 
ness exceeded  that  of  the  scribes  and  the  Pharisees 
that  they  could  in  nowise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.     (Matt.  v.  20.) 

The  most  fundamental  error  of  the  Pharisees  was 
their  excessive  ceremonialism.  They  emphasized 
the  less  important  things  at  the  expense  of  the  more 
important.  *'Ye  pay  tithe  of  mint  and  anise  and 
cummin  and  have  left  undone  the  weightier  matters 
of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy,  and  faith;  but  these 
things  ye  ought  to  have  done,  and  not  to  have  left 
the  other  undone/*     (Matt,  xxiii.  23.) 

To  what  extent  they  did  this  we  gather  from  the 
Talmud.^  In  this  we  see  that  questions  which  re- 
lated to  social  welfare  received  comparatively  little 
attention.  The  keeping  of  the  sabbath,  ablutions, 
prayers,  tithes,  sacrifices,  and  feasts — these  are  the 
matters  that  engaged  their  thoughts. 

This  would  not  have  been  so  harmful  had  it  not 
been  for  their  love  of  detail.  The  pharisaic  scribes 
were  not  content  with  stating  a  principle,  they  had 
also  to  state  all  the  possible  applications  of  it.  They 
would  leave  nothing  to  conscience,  nothing  to  the 
leadings  of  God.  To  regulate  every  detail  of  life 
was  their  unwearied  endeavor. 

Thus,  not  content  to  state  that  a  man  must  rest 
from  his  labor  on  the  sabbath,  they  enumerated  the 

^  For  the  material  of  the  part  of  this  chapter  which  deals  with  the 
ceremonialism  of  the  Pharisees,  I  have  very  largely  relied  on  the  inves- 
tigations of  Schurer.    (Schurer  2,  2,  91-125.) 


64  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

kinds  of  labors  from  which  he  had  to  rest  Some- 
how they  had  grouped  these  under  thirty-nine  differ- 
ent heads.  How  they  came  to  hmit  it  to  that 
number  baffles  ingenuity.  These  thirty-nine  differ- 
ent heads  were  indefinitely  divided  and  subdivided. 

One  of  the  forbidden  labors  was  the  kindling  of 
fire.  Immediately  the  question  arose,  What  kind  of 
a  fire  is  meant,  and  does  it  include  the  lighting  of  a 
lamp?  When  it  was  agreed  that  it  did,  the  prohi- 
bition was  also  extended  to  extinguishing  it.  But 
there  are  times  when  lamps  must  be  lit  or  extin- 
guished, as  in  seasons  of  sickness.  When  this  was 
admitted  there  were  other  problems.  For  all  these 
separate  emergencies  separate  laws  were  framed, 
which  the  student  of  law  had  to  memorize. 

Another  forbidden  labor  was  to  tie  or  untie  a 
knot.  But  it  was  speedily  recognized  that  there 
were  different  kinds  of  knots.  Might  a  woman  on 
the  sabbath  tie  a  knot  when  she  puts  on  a  cap,  or 
strap  on  her  sandals?  Here  was  a  perplexity.  So 
after  discussing  the  question,  a  list  of  the  knots  that 
might  be  safely  tied  was  made  out,  and  also  a  list  of 
the  forbidden  ones.  The  circumstances,  too,  under 
which  they  were  tied  or  untied  were  considered. 

It  was  forbidden  to  prepare  food  on  the  sabbath. 
This  law  included  the  heating  of  food.  But  people 
loved  warm  meals  on  the  sabbath.  This  led  them 
to  put  the  hot  food  away  in  substances  in  which  its 
heat  was  retained.     It  was  known  that  certain  sub- 


THE  PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       65 

stances,  like  oats,  would  steam  or  heat,  and  that  food 
put  away  in  them  could  be  kept  hot  or  be  heated. 
This,  of  course,  required  special  legislation,  as  it  was 
dangerously  near  like  cooking,  so  a  long  list  of  the 
substances  in  which  food  might  be  kept  and  also  a 
list  in  which  it  might  not  be  kept  was  prescribed. 

It  was  forbidden  to  carry  burdens  on  the  sabbath. 
But  what  constituted  a  burden?  It  was  decided 
that  an  article  as  light  as  a  dry  fig,  a  quantity  of 
milk  enough  for  one  swallow,  of  water  sufficient  to 
moisten  eye  salve,  and  of  ink  enough  to  write  one 
letter  was  a  burden.  This,  one  would  suppose,  was 
definite  enough.  But  no.  The  question  soon  arose, 
suppose  a  house  is  on  fire  on  the  sabbath,  how  much 
might  one  carry  in  rescuing  his  property.  Three 
meals  if  it  happened  in  the  evening,  two  if  in  the 
forenoon,  and  one  if  in  the  afternoon,  was  the 
answer. 

And  this  was  not  all.  Laws  were  passed  forbid- 
ding things  which  were  likely  to  lead  to  breaking  the 
sabbath.  For  instance,  it  was  forbidden  a  tailor  and 
a  writer  to  carry  their  needle  and  pen  in  their  gar- 
ments on  Friday  after  their  work,  as  they  might  for- 
get to  remove  them,  and  so  carry  them  on  the  sabbath 
day.  It  was  forbidden  a  man  to  read  on  the  sab- 
bath by  lamplight,  lest  the  light  being  dim,  he  should 
forget  himself  and  trim  it.  We  read  in  the  gospels 
how  they  murmured  if  Jesus  healed  people  on  the 
sabbath,  and  how  they  took  counsel  to  kill  him  for  it. 


66  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

(Matt.  xii.  1 1- 14;  Mark  iii.  1-6.)  If  a  man  received 
a  sprain  on  the  sabbath,  he  might  not  even  bathe  it 
with  water;  if  he  broke  a  Hmb  the  doctor  might  not 
set  it.  The  most  that  was  allowed  was  assistance 
to  women  in  labor. 

But  even  deeper  in  its  influence  upon  the  daily 
life  of  the  people  were  the  laws  relating  to  what  was 
clean  and  unclean.  A  law  in  Num.  xix.  15,  provides 
that  any  open  vessel  which  is  in  the  house  in  which 
a  person  dies  is  unclean.  The  question  with  the 
rabbis  was  what  kind  of  a  vessel  was  meant,  was  it 
a  leather  vessel,  a  wood  vessel,  or  an  earthen  vessel? 
Then  how  could  it  be  purified?  It  was  concluded 
that  a  flat  plate  without  a  rim  would  contract  no 
defilement,  neither  could  a  coal-shovel  or  a  gridiron. 
A  hollow  earthen  vessel  would,  however,  be  so  de- 
filed that  it  could  only  be  cleansed  by  destruction. 
A  portion  so  small  that  it  could  only  hold  oil  enough 
to  anoint  a  Httle  toe  was  still  unclean.  It  was  to 
these  exaggerated  purifications  that  Jesus  referred 
when  he  said  that  they  cleansed  the  outside  of  the 
cup  and  platter.     (Matt,  xxiii.  25.) 

Even  prayer  was  regulated.  When  to  pray  and 
what  to  pray  was  carefully  defined.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom of  a  house-father  to  pray  and  give  thanks  over 
his  meals.  For  this,  too,  forms  were  prescribed. 
And  the  various  articles  partaken  of,  like  bread, 
vegetables,  vinegar,  unripe  fruit,  cheese,  required 
each  its  particular  blessing. 


THE   PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       67 

Likewise  the  strictest  attention  was  paid  to  ap- 
parel. A  good  Pharisee  was  careful  about  the  num- 
ber of  threads  and  knots  he  had  in  his  phylactery, 
and  how  long  it  was.  With  such  puerilities  and 
fatuities  they  busied  themselves,  and  in  these  the 
children  of  the  pious  were  carefully  trained.  It  is 
the  boast  of  Josephus  that  the  training  of  children 
was  so  carefully  attended  to  (Vita  2),  and  he  also 
says  that  many  had  such  proficiency  in  the  law,  as 
to  shame  their  elders.  (Contra  Apion.  112.)  Con- 
sidering how  the  knowledge  of  the  law  was  a  matter 
of  memory,  and  how  much  more  retentive  the  mem- 
ory is  in  children  than  in  later  life,  this  is  not  at  all 
surprising. 

But  of  what  value  was  it.?  Even  the  absurd 
training  which  the  learned  in  China  receive  is  more 
valuable;  at  any  rate  it  does  not  cause  so  much 
dejection,  heart  throbbings,  and  restlessness  as  this 
did.  As  there  was  a  tendency  to  regard  all  the  laws 
of  equal  importance,  and  as  it  was  impossible  to 
keep  them  all,  conscientious  people  were  very  un- 
happy. Who  can  conceive  the  misery  of  such  an 
earnest  man  as  Paul?  Knowing  the  bondage  in 
which  the  law  held  people,  it  is  no  wonder  he  speaks 
of  it  so  often,  and  glories  so  much  in  the  freedom  in 
Christ.*  And  it  was  probably  worse  later  on.  The 
Talmudic  laws  had  not  yet  been  developed  in  all 

*  The  other  New  Testament  writers  had  not  studied  these  laws  as 
Paul  had.  It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  they  had  paid  much  attention  to 
them. 


68  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

their  detail  when  Paul  complained  of  the  law.  But 
their  development  had  gone  a  sadly  long  way.  The 
regulations  pertaining  to  fasts  and  cleansings  had 
already  been  carried  to  such  an  absurd  extent  that 
Jesus  considered  the  original  scriptural  laws  as  hope- 
lessly lost,  and  so  he  swept  them  away.  It  was  his 
custom,  if  he  could  not  reform  the  abuses  of  a  law, 
to  sweep  the  law  itself  away.  (Mark  vii.  1-19; 
Matt.  ix.  14,  15.) 

This  emphasis  on  ceremonial  law  caused  the  neg- 
lect of  the  moral  and  social  laws.  They  left  undone 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment  and 
mercy  and  faith.  (Matt,  xxiii.  23.)  These  laws, 
our  Saviour  says,  are  more  important  than  the  cere- 
monial. Showing  mercy  is  of  more  value  than  sacri- 
fice. (Matt.  xii.  7.)  The  aim  of  religion  is  good- 
ness. The  keeping  of  the  ceremonial  laws  is  an  aid 
to  attain  to  goodness,  while  keeping  the  moral  law  is 
the  thing  itself.  The  Pharisees  did  not  see  this. 
Hence  when  a  young  Pharisee  asked  Jesus  which 
law  he  was  to  keep,  Jesus  mentioned  only  moral 
laws.  That  this  young  man  had  kept  the  sabbath, 
and  made  no  graven  image,  and  reverenced  God's 
name,  was  certain  enough;  it  was  not  so  certain  that 
his  life  had  been  pure,  or  that  he  had  not  borne  false 
witness,  or  dishonored  his  parents,  or  failed  to  love 
his  neighbors.  (Matt.  xix.  18,  19.)  We  recall  how 
Jesus  rebuked  this  party  for  indifference  to  parents. 
(Matt.  XV.  5.)     We  are  also  familiar  with  the  story 


THE   PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       69 

of  how  they  brought  a  woman  to  Jesus  who  was 
guilty  of  adultery  and  how  not  one  of  them  was 
chaste.     (John  viii.  I-II.) 

History  illustrates  over  and  over  that  when  atten- 
tion is  given  to  ceremonial  truths,  moraHty  decHnes. 
Jesus  called  them  whited  sepulchers  full  of  unclean- 
ness,  hypocrisy,  and  iniquity.  (Matt,  xxiii.  27-28.) 
Josephus  also  relates  how  they  deceived  the  women 
at  Herod's  court,  pretending  that  God  had  inspired 
them  to  foretell  the  future.     (Jos.  Ant.  17,  2-4.) 

It  can  be  truthfully  said  that  the  religion  of  the 
Pharisees  was  virtually  heathen.  The  distinctive 
feature  of  the  Old  Testament  religion — that  which 
distinguished  it  from  heathen  religions  —  was  its 
moral  character.  God,  it  taught,  was  holy,  and  his 
worshipers  were  to  be  holy  Hke  he.  (Lev.  xi.  44.) 
The  gods  of  the  other  Oriental  people  were  often 
most  unholy,  and  hoHness  was  not  asked  of  their 
worshipers.  To  be  pious  among  them  did  not  mean 
to  be  good.  To  be  deeply  religious  did  not  mean  to 
be  honorable.  He  was  looked  upon  as  the  most 
religious  person  who  was  most  careful  to  observe  the 
ceremonial  requirements.  So  among  the  Pharisees. 
Hence  Christ  declared  that  they  could  not,  as  Phari- 
sees, enter  heaven.  All  the  heaven  that  they  would 
get  they  had  already.  *' Verily  I  say  unto  thee  they 
have  received  their  reward."  (Matt.  vi. 16.)  The 
praise  of  men,  the  opinion  of  the  spiritually  stupid, 
the  prominent  seats  at  feasts,  were  their  rewards. 


7o  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

When  they  were  not  engaged  in  quibbling  over 
ceremonial  laws,  they  would  exercise  their  wits  in 
speculative  discussions.  **The  heavenly  world,  the 
nature  and  attributes  of  God,  heaven  as  his  dwelHng- 
place,  the  angels  as  his  servants,  the  whole  fullness 
and  glory  of  the  heavenly  world  —  such  were  the 
objects  to  which  learned  reflection  and  inventive 
fancy  apphed  themselves  with  special  predilection. 
Philosophic  problems  were  also  discussed:  how  the 
revelation  of  God  in  the  world  was  conceivable,  how 
an  influence  of  God  upon  the  world  was  possible 
without  his  being  himself  drawn  into  the  finite,  how 
far  there  was  room  for  evil  in  the  world  created  and 
governed  by  God,  and  the  like/'  (Schurer2, 1, 347.) 
They  also  speculated  a  great  deal  on  eschatological 
subjects,  such  as  the  glory  of  the  Messianic  kingdom, 
and  there  were  some  who  cultivated  theosophy. 
"Of  ideas  of  reformation,  which  Jewish  self-love 
would  so  wilhngly  have  us  believe  in,  there  is  not,  as 
we  see,  a  single  word."  (Schurer  2,  I,  362.)  With 
vital  problems  they  were  simply  not  concerned.  The 
nearest  they  came  to  it  was  when  they  discussed  the 
lawfulness  of  taxation,  which  did  no  good,  and  only 
fanned  the  flames  of  revolution  in  which  the  nation 
was  finally  devoured. 

Upon  the  vast  horde  of  suffering,  erring  human- 
ity they  looked  with  bitter  scorn.  They  called 
themselves  the  Caber im;  that  is,  neighbors,  or  **fel- 
low-citizens, '  *  and  all  who  were  not  of  their  mode 


THE   PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       7^ 

of  living  and  thinking  were  unclean.  Even  the 
Sadducees  were  unclean  (Nidda  4,  2),  much  more 
the  ignorant  masses.  The  people  who  knew  not  the 
law  were  cursed  (John  vii.  49),  and  when  Jesus 
sought  to  help  these  they  murmured. 

We  read  of  a  woman  who  had  been  helped  by 
Jesus.  She  came  behind  him  to  anoint  his  feet  as 
he  was  at  the  home  of  a  Pharisee.  Overcome  by 
emotions  of  gratitude,  she  moistened  Jesus'  feet  with 
her  tears,  which  she  hastily  wiped  away.  Instead 
of  being  touched  by  that,  the  Pharisee  said  to  him- 
self that  Jesus  could  be  no  prophet  for  allowing  it, 
because  the  woman  was  a  sinner.  (Luke  vii.  39.) 
Not  a  woman  of  ill-repute,  for  the  assumption  of 
that  there  is  no  warrant;  but  one  of  the  common 
people,  and  therefore  a  sinner.  When  large  throngs 
of  publicans  pressed  around  Jesus  to  hear  him  speak, 
the  Pharisees  murmured.  (Luke  xv.  2.)  When  he 
ate  a  meal  with  them  they  were  angry  and  shocked. 
(Luke  V.  33.)  From  such  a  party  it  is  evident  no 
improvement  in  the  economic  condition  of  the  people 
could  be  expected. 

There  was  another  party  called  the  Sadducaic. 
The  origin  of  the  name  Sadducee  is  in  doubt,  as  is 
that  of  Essene  and  Pharisee,  but  it  probably  comes 
from  Zadok,  a  priest  in  the  days  of  Solomon.  The 
characteristic  feature  of  the  Sadducees  was  their 
social  position.  (Schurer  2,  2,  10.)  They  were  the 
nation's  aristocrats.     As  the    greater    portion  of 


72 THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

the  scribes  were  Pharisees,  the  greater  portion  of  the 
priests  came  from  the  ranks  of  the  Sadducees.  All 
the  aristocratic  priests  did.  (Jos.  Ant.  13,  10,  6.) 
As  we  come  in  touch  with  this  party  in  the  gospels 
and  Acts  (Matt.  xxvi.  62-65;  Mark  xiv.  60-74;  Luke 
xxii.  50;  John  xi.  49,  50;  Acts  iv.  1-21;  v.  17-28), 
it  strikes  us  as  made  up  of  selfish,  unjust,  coarse, 
and  cruel  people.  The  Mishnah  speaks  of  them  as 
being  as  low  as  the  Samaritans,  and  in  many  respects 
on  a  level  with  the  Gentiles.  (Nidda  4,  1-2;  7,  3-5.) 
Josephus  tells  of  the  cruelty  of  the  high  priest 
Annas.  He  would  send  out  his  servants  to  the 
threshing-floors,  and  take  away  by  violence  the 
tithes  that  belonged  to  the  priests,  with  the  result 
that  some  of  these  priests,  having  depended  upon 
these  tithes  for  their  support,  died  from  want.  (Jos. 
Ant.  20,  9,  2.) 

The  best  feature  about  the  Sadducees  was  their 
rejection  of  the  traditions  of  the  fathers.  Unfortu- 
nately their  motive  for  this  was  not  because  these 
traditions  obscured  the  scriptures,  but  that  they  were 
hard  to  keep. 

That  this  party  would  do  little  to  lift  the  people's 
burdens  need  scarcely  be  stated.  The  evidence  for 
this  is  the  general  attitude  of  this  class  of  people  to 
the  poor,  and  also  the  hostility  which  the  poor  felt 
to  them.     (Jos.  Ant.  18,  i,  4.) 

Thus  neither  party  had  the  social  spirit.  Each 
cared  for  itself.     The  needy  were  let  alone.     The 


THE  PEOPLE'S  SOCIAL  CONDITION       73 

hope  of  the  nation  was  left  to  perish,  for  with  the 
poor  a  nation's  hope  rests.  Luther  knew  this,  so 
did  Wesley  and  Whitfield,  and  so  does  General 
WiUiam  Booth.  The  fashion  of  the  world  passes 
away,  and  so  do  the  fashionable,  and  that  often  very 
quickly.  Flowers  that  bloom  are  nigh  to  destruc- 
tion. Their  life  days  are  numbered.  But  with  the 
shoot  which  just  emerges  from  the  bulb  is  the  long 
life.  And  it  is  this  upon  which  the  wise  gardener 
bestows  his  greatest  care.  The  shoots  are  our  low- 
est classes,  just  emerging,  and  those  leaders  or  those 
nations  which  care  best  for  them  will  do  humanity 
the  most  lasting  service. 


THE     HUMANITARIANISM    OF 
RIGHTEOUS    REMNANT    IN 
THE    DAYS    OF   JESUS 


''Wot  ye  not  what  the  scripture  saith  of  Elijah?  how  he 
pleadeth  with  God  against  Israel;  Lord,  they  have  killed 
thy  prophets,  they  have  digged  down  thine  altars ;  and  I  am 
left  alone,  and  they  seek  my  life.  But  what  saith  the  answer 
of  God  unto  him?  I  have  left  for  myself  seven  thousand 
men,  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal.  Even  so  then 
at  this  present  time  also  there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the 
election  of  grace."     (Rom.  xi.  2-5.) 


CHAPTER   V 

THE    HUMANITARIANISM    OF    A    RIGHTEOUS 
REMNANT   IN  THE  DAYS   OF  JESUS 

If  the  mass  of  the  people  of  Jesus'  day  and  the 
bulk  of  their  leaders  were  corrupt,  proud,  selfish, 
impractical,  oppressive,  and  insincere,  they  were  not 
all  that  way. 

There  were  a  few  exceptions.  Who  they  were 
and  how  great  their  number  and  influence  was  we 
have  no  means  of  knowing.  The  Hterature  of  the 
period  is  scant.  There  is  very  Httle  descriptive  of 
the  period  outside  of  what  is  found  in  the  New 
Testament.  The  works  of  Josephus  do  not  cover  it. 
Josephus  almost  passes  it  over,  as  if  it  had  not  been. 
Philo  wrote  from  Egypt,  and  is  so  Hellenized  that 
he  hardly  represents  the  Jews.  The  older  Jewish 
literature,  the  Mishna,  popularly  regarded  as  a  part 
of  the  Talmud,  dates  from  a  hundred  years  later. 
Eleven-twelfths  of  the  citations  are  from  rabbis  who 
lived  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century.  Yet, 
from  these  the  main  evidence  for  the  existence  of  a 
righteous  remnant  in  the  days  of  Jesus  is  obtained. 

The  Talmud  is  not  enjoyable  reading.  It  is  like 
walking  through  a  desert,  very  dry  work.  Yet  here 
and  there  among  the  arid  wastes  are  green  oases  of 
77 


78  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

really  beautiful  utterances.     These  are  the  sayings 
of  the  righteous  few. 

In  their  discussions  these  men  cover  nearly  every 
topic  that  bears  upon  economic  welfare  which  is 
found  in  the  Old  Testament.  Judged  by  these  cita- 
tions they  were  men  of  breadth,  judgment,  and  piety. 
First  of  all  they  have  the  scriptural  conception  of 
work.*  This,  however,  was  not  peculiar  with  them. 
The  Jews  were  never  indolent.  An  idle  aristocracy 
did  never  thrive  with  them.  We  read  of  prominent 
rabbis  who  were  farmers,  wood-cutters,  needle- 
smiths,  blacksmiths,  tailors,  butchers,  millers,  shoe- 
makers, and  carpenters.  (Joma  35;  Gittim  67.) 
Then  we  find  them  again  and  again  urging  parents 
to  have  their  sons  learn  a  trade,  and  recognizing  its 
moral  as  well  as  its  economic  advantages.^  There 
was  ground  for  fear  that  they  over-emphasized  the 
value  of  manual  labor  and  that  spiritual  labors  would 
suffer  from  it.  (Barachoth  35 .)  Men  like  that  could 
not  disdain  the  toilers.  They  were  brothers  to  them 
— brothers  in  toil,  in  craft,  and  in  blood.  For  their 
interests  they  were  jealously  watchful.  Prompt  pay, 
fair  play,  and  kind  treatment  are  the  things  they 
enjoined.  (Baba  Meziah  hoc;  Baba  Meziah  1 12a.) 
Perhaps  the  duties  of  the  toilers  are  urged  some- 

'  "He  who  lives  on  the  toil  of  his  hands  is  greater  than  he  who 
indulges  in  idle  piety."    (Berachoth  8a.) 

^  "He  who  does  not  teach  his  son  a  trade  is  as  if  he  had  brought 
him  up  for  robbery."  (Kidduschin  2Qa.)  "Let  one  always  see  to  it  that 
his  son  learns  a  light  trade."  (Kidduschin  82.)  "How  great  is  handy 
craft,  it  honors  its  master."    (Nedarim  40  c.) 


HUMANITARIANISM  79 

what  more  than  the  Old  Testament  does,  such  as 
promptness  (Baba  Meziah  83c),  dihgence,  and  an 
appreciation  of  an  employer's  kindness  (Baba 
Meziah  89a),  but  this  is  never  done  in  a  humihat- 
ing  way.  Nothing  unfair  is  asked  of  them,  though 
some  of  the  regulations  prescribed  are,  after  the 
manner  of  the  rabbis,  somewhat  trifling.  (Baba 
Meziah  83c;  Taanith  23c;  Barachoth  i6a.)^ 

Very  little  is  said  about  slavery.  The  Hebrews 
were  not  at  this  time  in  a  position  to  hold  many  slaves. 
This  is  also  discouraged.  (Baba  Meziah  6oc.)  Giv- 
ing them  freedom  is  urged,  and  so  is  considerate 
treatment.  (Baba  Bathra  8 .)  But  much  is  said  con- 
cerning beneficence.  Indeed,  so  much  is  said  of  its 
importance  that  suspicions  of  self-interests  are 
aroused.  For  some  of  the  rabbis  were  very  poor, 
so  poor  as  to  suffer  for  the  necessaries  of  Hfe. 
(Taanith  24 ;  Pesachim  1 1 .)  Of  a  very  noted  one. 
Rabbi  Akiba,  it  is  said  that  he  had  scarcely  straw 
enough  for  bedding.  (Taanith  25.)^  But  *'love 
thinketh  no  evil."  Where  one  can  only  suspicion, 
he  should  not  accuse. 

The  value  of  beneficence  is  put  above  that  of  the 

*  Instances  of  detailed  regulations  are  to  the  carpenter  to  keep  the 
shavings,  but  not  the  chips  (Baba  Kamma  10: 10),  and  to  the  gardener 
stating  how  much  he  might  eat  of  the  fruit  of  his  employer's  orchard 
or  vineyard.     (Baba  Meziah  89a.) 

«  Rabbi  Jochanan,  the  son  of  Gudgada,  and  Rabbi  Simon,  the  son 
of  Abba,  both  very  learned,  had  often  no  bread.  (Pesachim  11.) 
Rabbi  Eleazar,  too,  was  often  in  need  of  the  daily  necessities.  He 
was  once  found  sick,  with  nothing  in  the  house  but  a  little  piece  of 
garlic.    (Taanith  24.) 


So  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

other  virtues;  in  fact,  it  is  said  to  be  as  valuable  as 
all  other  virtues  put  together.^ 

Some  sayings  make  one  think  of  Jesus.  What 
means  this  commandment,  *'Ye  shall  walk  after  the 
Lord  your  God,"  asked  Rabbi  Ghana,  referring  to 
Deuteronomy  xiii.  4;  and  he  answered,  It  means, 
you  must  imitate  God."  **As  he  clothes  the 
naked  (Gen.  iii.  21),  so  must  you  clothe  the  naked; 
as  he  provides  for  the  sick  (Gen.  xviii.  i),  so 
must  you  care  for  them;  as  he  comforts  the  sad 
(Gen.  XXV.  11),  so  must  you  comfort  them;  as  he 
buried  the  dead,  so  must  you  bury  the  dead." 
(Sota  13.) 

All  the  good  things  of  life  are  promised  to  the 
beneficent.  If  one  loved  property,  he  had  the  prom- 
ise that  God  would  bless  his  property  (Baba  Bathra 
96),  if  he  was  spiritually  minded,  he  had  the  prom- 
ise of  God's  presence  (Baba  Bathra  ii),  if  he  was 
burdened  with  sin,  he  was  assured  that  beneficence 
would  atone  for  it,  if  he  longed  for  heaven,  benefi- 
cence, it  was  said,  would  insure  one's  entrance,  and 
make  his  presence  there  more  blessed. 

During  a  famine  Monabaz,  a  converted  prince, 
divided  his  property  and  that  of  his  father  among 
the  famine  sufferers.     His  brothers  objected  to  this: 

*  "The  works  of  charity  have  more  value  than  sacrifices.  They 
are  equal  to  the  performance  of  all  religious  duties."  (Succah  49a. 
Baba  Bathra  ga.)  "The  value  of  fasting  consists  in  beneficence." 
(Barachoth  6.)  "God  feeds  the  world  in  consequence  of  beneficence." 
(Barachoth  7.)  "The  virtue  of  beneficence  weighs  as  heavy  as  all  the 
Other  virtues  put  together."    (Baba  Bathra  ga.) 


HUMANITARIANISM  8i 

**Your  father,"  they  said,  "multipHed  the  treasure, 
but  you  add  nothing  to  it,  and  even  spend  the  same." 
Against  this  he  answered,  "I  also  accumulate  treas- 
ure, but  with  this  difference,  they  gathered  here 
below,  I  above;  they  brought  together  uncertain 
treasures,  but  I  store  mine  where  no  human  hand 
reaches;  what  they  gathered  brought  forth  small 
fruit,  what  I  gather  brings  forth  fruit  manifold; 
they  preserved  gold  and  silver,  I  human  lives;  they 
heaped  up  treasures  for  this  world,  I  for  the  world 
to  come.  Beneficence  goes  before  you  in  the  glories 
of  the  eternal  future."  (Baba  Bathra  lO.)  Cp. 
**Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  the 
earth,  where  moth  and  rust  doth  consume,  and 
where  thieves  break  through  and  steal;  but  lay  up 
for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven  where  neither 
moth  nor  rust  doth  consume,  and  where  thieves 
do  not  break  through  and  steal."  (Matt.  vi. 
19-20.) 

Refusal  to  give  alms,  when  one  was  able  to  do 
it,  was  called  the  sin  of  sins,  as  bad  as  idolatrv. 
(Kethuboth  61,  68a.)  Even  to  postpone  it  was  to 
run  the  risk  of  God's  curses.     (Taanith  21.) 

If  there  were  those  in  Jesus'  day  who  gave  alms 
to  be  seen  of  men,  such  probably  were  also  found 
about  this  time,  but  it  was  explicitly  forbidden.  A 
man  who  did  that,  the  Mishna  said,  should  be  re- 
garded as  a  sinner.  (Chagiga  4.)  Rabbi  Janai  said 
that  it  was  better  not  to  give  at  all  than  do  it  pub- 


82  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

licly.  (Chagiga  5.)  Only  heathen  displayed  their 
beneficence.     (Baba  Bathra  10.)^ 

But  best  of  all  they  recognized  that  alms  should 
spring  from  love.  Not  the  fact  of  giving,  nor  the 
amount  of  the  gift  (Baba  Bathra  1 6c),  but  the  spirit 
in  which  the  gift  was  made  was  said  to  determine  its 
value.  Gifts  should  be  prompted  by  love,  and  be 
accompanied  with  words  of  advice,  encouragement, 
and  sympathy.  (Succah  49c.)  ''Blessed  is  he  who 
gives  from  his  substance  to  the  poor,  twice  blessed 
is  he  who  accompanies  his  gift  with  kind  and  com- 
forting words."  ^ 

As  regards  loans  and  interest  they  hold  to  the 
teachings  of  the  scripture.  Making  loans  is  earn- 
estly enjoined,  especially  with  a  view  to  helping  a 
man  to  help  himself.  For  while  giving  alms  is  en- 
couraged, their  reception  is  not.  Receiving  alms, 
the  Bible  said,  was  the  lot  of  the  children  of  the 
wicked,  or  those  too  indolent  to  work  (Ps.  cix.  10; 
Job  XX.  10;  Prov.  XX.  4),  and  was  held  in  peculiar 
abhorrence.' 

It  always  was  among  the  Jews,  was  then,  is  now, 

*  "True  beneficence  is  that  which  is  done  unobserved."  (Baba 
Bathra  loc.) 

*  "The  merit  of  charitable  works  is  in  proportion  to  the  love  with 
which  they  are  practiced."  (Succah  49a.)  Other  references  to  citations 
about  charity  are  found  in  Sotah  14a,  Kethuboth  66c,  Succah  29c, 
Baba  Bathra  ga,  ic,  Baba  Kamma  i6c. 

3  "To  curtail  your  needs,  turn  sabbath  into  week  day.  Better  to 
work  on  the  sabbath  than  beg."  (Pesachim  112.)  "Take  hold  of  any 
kind  of  work,  however  humble,  so  as  to  avoid  the  need  of  taking  alms." 
(Baba  Bathra  no).  "He  to  whom  alms  are  offered,  but  refuseth  them, 
will  see  the  day  he  will  be  able  to  bestow  them."    (Pea.  8c,  9.) 


HUMANITARIANISM  83 

and  we  hope  ever  shall  be.  Therefore,  they  urged 
men  to  be  careful  in  bestowing  charity  (Baba  Bathra 
9a),  and  declared  that  the  noblest  charity  of  all  was 
to  enable  the  poor  to  earn  their  own  livelihood.  (Sab- 
bath 63a.)  This  loans  would  often  accompHsh,  and 
therefore  their  importance.  There  are  several  say- 
ings in  which  this  appears;  the  most  notable  ones 
are  found  in  Sabbath  63a,  and  Jebamoth  62c. 

Interest  on  such  loans  was  forbidden  the  same  as 
in  the  Old  Testament.  They  who  took  it  were 
called  deniers  of  God,  and  threatened  with  terrible 
curses,  but  judging  from  the  praise  bestowed 
upon  those  who  did  not  take  it,  these  were  not 
many.^ 

Debt-burdened  people  were  kindly  remembered. 
A  man's  necessities  of  life  could  not  be  taken  for 
debt,  no  matter  how  great  it  was.  (Baba  Meziah 
115a.)  They  were  especially  considerate  of  wid- 
ows, and  of  the  wife  and  children  of  a  debtor  (Baba 
Meziah  115a;  11 8a),  and  such  was  the  protection 
afforded  to  the  feelings  of  the  honest  debtor  that 
the  creditor  was  ordered  to  keep  as  far  as  possible 
out  of  his  way.     (Baba  Meziah  75c.) 

What  they  say  concerning  riches  accords  with 
the  scripture.  Riches  are  disparaged  as  bringing 
care  and  trouble  and  some  gave  all  their  riches  away, 

»  "Come  see  how  blind  increase  takers  are,  they  are  deniers  of 
God."  (Baba  Meziah  71.)  "The  transgression  of  the  increase  taker 
is  a  fivefold  one,  as  the  command  against  taking  increase  was  fivefold." 
(Baba  Meziah  75.)  "He  who  puts  out  his  money  upon  interest  will  see 
no  blessings  upon  his  labor."    (Baba  Meziah  71a.) 


§4  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

enough  of  them  to  call  for  a  law  to  stop  it.     (Erachin 
8,  14.) 

If  we  now  turn  two  or  three  centuries  back,  to 
the  time  of  the  Apocrypha,  we  find  a  righteous 
remnant  there,  giving  utterance  to  sentiments  re- 
garding social  welfare  that  are  very  similar  to  those 
of  the  rabbis.  The  Apocryphal  books  were  written  by 
pious  men.  They  could  not  otherwise  have  held  their 
place  in  the  Catholic  Church  as  sacred  literature. 
That  some  of  them  are  practical  and  spiritual,  all  they 
who  have  read  them  know.  So  far  as  they  touch  on 
economic  interests  they  evince  the  tenderest  humanity. 

As  in  the  Mishna,  so  here,  there  is  much  said 
concerning  beneficence.  Almsgiving  is  earnestly 
urged,  especially  in  Sirach  and  in  Tobit,  the  former 
written  about  170  B.  C.  and  the  latter  somewhat  later. 
**Help  the  poor  for  the  commandment's  sake,'* 
writes  Sirach;  *'and  turn  him  not  away  because 
of  his  poverty."  **Lose  thy  money  for  thy  brother 
and  thy  friend,  and  let  it  not  rust  under  a  stone  to 
be  lost."  (Eccles.  xxix.  9-10.)  Tobit  says,  *'It  is 
better  to  give  alms  than  to  lay  up  gold;  for  alms 
deliver  from  death,  and  shall  purge  away  all  sin." 
(Tobit  xii.  8,  9.)  Both  these  authors  teach  the  same 
error  which  the  Mishna  does,  that  alms  atone  for 
iniquity.  Tobit  teaches  it  very  explicitly,  but  Sirach 
also  held  it.^ 

*  "Water  will  quench  a  flaming:  fire,  and  alms  maketh  an  atonement 
for  sins."  (Eccles.  iii.  30.)  Both  also  teach  that  almsgiving  will  be  re- 
warded in  heaven.    (Eccles.  xii.  2;  Tobit  iv.  9.) 


HUMANITARIANISM  85 

The  danger  and  care  occasioned  by  riches  are  also 
emphasized;  in  fact,  all  the  laws  and  teachings  that 
aim  at  social  welfare  are  honored.^ 

In  Ecclesiastics  we  have  one  of  the  sweetest 
passages  of  its  kind  respecting  the  treatment  of 
slaves:  *'If  thou  hast  a  servant,  let  him  be  unto  thee 
as  thyself,  because  thou  hast  bought  him  with  a 
price.  If  thou  hast  a  servant  entreat  him  as  thy 
brother."    (Eccles.  xxxiii.  30,  31.) 

Coming  down  to  Jesus'  day  we  find  words  almost 
as  tender  in  the  works  of  Philo.  Philo  was  so  per- 
meated with  Hellenic  culture  that  we  are  not  always 
sure  that  he  represents  Hebrew  life  and  thought 
correctly,  but  we  may  be  certain  that  it  is  not  Greek 
thought  he  reflects  when  he  writes  of  slavery,  **0 
man,  he  is  a  hireling  who  is  called  a  slave,  having  a 
most  subHme  relationship  to  you,  inasmuch  as  he  is 
of  the  same  nation  as  yourself  and  perhaps  he  is 
even  of  the  same  tribe."  (Philo,  Ten  Festivals,  Vol. 
III.  p.  274,  Yonge  Ed.)  In  this  same  paragraph 
he  objects  to  calHng  slaves  dodXot,  that  is  bondmen; 
they  should,  he  says,  be  called  t^^rei,  that  is  ser- 
vants; and  he  urges  the  observance  of  the  sabbatic 
year  which  required  their  release,  and  their  endow- 
ment with  enough  property  to  give  them  a  fair  start. 
(Deut.  XV.  14.) 

Knowing  that  there  were  pious  men,  teaching 

'  "Watching  for  riches  consuraeth  the  flesh,  and  care  thereof 
driveth  away  sleep.  Gold  hath  been  the  ruin  of  many  and  their 
destruction  was  present."    (Eccles.  xxxi.  2-6,  viii.  2;  xiii.  3-8.) 


S6  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

noble  truths,  a  hundred  years  after  Jesus,  and  know- 
ing also  that  there  were  pious  men  teaching  noble 
truths  a  hundred  years  before  Jesus,  it  is  inevitable 
that  we  infer  that  there  were  noble  truths  and  noble 
men  in  his  time.  Of  the  existence  of  noble  men 
there  is  evidence  in  the  New  Testament.  We  read 
of  righteous  men  like  Zacharia  and  Joseph  and  of 
women  like  Elizabeth  and  Mary  and  of  devout 
Simeon  and  pious  Anna.  (Luke  ii.  25-37.)  The 
shepherds,  too,  were  godly  men,  and  doubtless  they 
were  also  found  among  the  rabbis.  We  are  almost 
sure  that  Rabban  GamaHel  the  elder,  the  teacher  of 
Paul,  was  one.  (Acts  v.  34;  xxii.  3.)  It  was  said 
some  years  after  his  death,  '*  Since  Rabban  Gamaliel 
the  elder  died  there  has  been  no  more  reverence  for 
the  law,  and  purity  and  abstinence  died  out  at  the 
same  time."     (Sota  9,  15.) 

If  we  had  a  record  of  the  sayings  of  the  rabbis 
of  the  first  half  of  the  first  century,  we  would  prob- 
ably find  utterances  among  them  as  noble  as  we  do 
among  the  sayings  of  those  of  the  first  half  of  the 
second  century.  But  their  teaching  is  almost  wholly 
lost,  only  a  few  sentences  of  the  leading  ones  being 
preserved.  If  we  had  it,  it  would  no  doubt  be 
wearisome  reading,  the  bulk  of  it  given  up  to  the 
petty  ceremonial  regulations,  but  with  here  and 
there  a  few  sayings  worth  remembering.^ 

»  Twice  as  many  treatises  of  the  Mishna  deal  witfi  ceremonial 
matter  as  deal  with  moral  truths. 


HUMANITARIANISM  87 

During  the  Civil  War,  when  slaves  escaped  from 
the  South  to  Canada,  they  were  helped  on  their  way 
by  Abolitionists.  Along  a  road  of  hostile  or  indiffer- 
ent people  they  would  find  here  and  there  a  friend, 
by  whom  they  were  helped  on  to  another  friend. 
By  such  a  method  truth  has  come  to  us.  In  a  world 
of  hostile  or  indifferent  people,  it  has  met  friends, 
who  handed  it  on  to  other  friends,  and  so  it  has  come 
down  to  the  ages,  from  generation  to  generation. 
Such  friends  truth  found  in  Jesus'  time,  who  handed 
it  down  from  the  Apocryphal  days  to  the  days  of  the 
Talmud. 

No,  Jesus  did  not  come  into  a  world  in  which 
everybody  was  a  hypocrite  or  a  formalist.  There 
was  a  remnant  left.  But  the  influence  of  that  rem- 
nant was  small.  Their  names  are  forgotten.  They 
were,  however,  of  great  help  to  Jesus,  as  with  the 
aid  they  gave  him,  he  gathered  the  people  who  sub- 
sequently formed  the  nucleus  of  his  church. 

If  the  distressed  conditions  of  the  period  moved 
Jesus  to  sympathy,  and  roused  the  desire  to  remove 
this  distress,  there  was  not  only  plenty  that  he  might 
do,  but  plenty  that  would  never  be  done  unless  he 
did  it.  The  leaders  as  a  class  cared  not  for  the 
people,  and  the  few  who  did  lacked  power.  That 
it  moved  Jesus  we  cannot  doubt,  that  he  determined 
to  improve  the  sad  conditions,  we  can  as  little 
doubt.  Just  how  he  went  about  this  improvement 
must  be  considered  later. 


THE   VARIATIONS    IN  THE  GOSPELS 

TOUCHING   JESUS^    TEACHINGS 

ON   WEALTH 


"Now,  there  are  diversities  of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit. 
And  there  are  diversities  of  ministrations,  and  the  same 
Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of  workings,  but  the  same 
God,  who  worketh  all  things  in  all.  But  to  each  one  is 
given  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  to  profit  withal." 
(I.  Cor.  xii.  4-7.) 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  VARIATIONS    IN  THE   GOSPELS  TOUCH- 
ING JESUS'   TEACHINGS   ON  WEALTH 

Before  we  can  consider  the  attitude  of  Jesus  to 
his  country's  unhappy  condition  and  his  plan  for  its 
social  redemption,  if  he  had  such  a  plan,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  give  some  thought  to  certain  variations  that 
are  found  in  the  gospels.  No  one  who  has  carefully 
read  them  has  failed  to  notice  the  different  impres- 
sions they  give  as  to  Jesus*  attitude  to  questions  of 
material  possession.  If  he  reads  John's  gospel,  he 
gets  the  impression  that  he  paid  no  attention  to  it. 
If  he  reads  the  gospel  of  Mark,  he  concludes  that 
he  paid  some  attention  to  it.  Matthew's  gospel 
leads  one  to  beUeve  that  his  interest  in  it  was  very- 
considerable,  while  in  Luke's  gospel  questions  of 
property  are  given  a  prominent  place. 

The  gospel  of  Luke  contains  practically  every- 
thing that  relates  to  material  possession  which  is 
found  in  the  other  gospels.  In  addition  to  that,  it 
tells  concerning  the  birth  of  Christ  in  a  manger; 
the  sacrifice  by  his  parents  of  two  young  pigeons, 
which  was  the  poor  people's  sacrifice;  the  song  of 
Mary,  containing  the  sentiment,  *'He  hath  put  down 
the  mighty  from  their  seats,  and  exalted  them  of  low 
91 


92  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

degree.  He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things; 
and  the  rich  he  hath  sent  empty  away'*  (Luke  i. 
52,  53);  the  sermon  at  Nazareth,  in  which  Jesus  said 
that  he  came  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor  (iv. 
16-20);  the  saying  that  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his 
hire  (x.  7) ;  the  injunction  to  the  Pharisees  to  give 
alms  of  such  things  as  they  could  (xi.  41);  the  com- 
mand, "Sell  that  thou  hast  and  give  alms'*  (xii. 
33);  the  principle,  *' Whosoever  he  be  of  you  that 
renounceth  not  all  that  he  hath  cannot  be  my  dis- 
ciple" (xiv.  33);  the  parable  of  the  two  debtors  (vii. 
36-50);  that  of  the  rich  man  who  boasted  of  his 
goods  and  was  condemned  for  it  (xii.  16-21);  the 
refusal  of  Jesus  to  be  an  arbiter  between  two  broth- 
ers who  strove  about  an  inheritance  (xii.  13-16); 
the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  (x.  25-38);  the 
parable  of  the  marriage  feast,  in  connection  with 
which  Jesus  advised  his  hearers  to  invite  the  poor, 
the  maimed,  the  blind,  the  halt,  to  their  feasts  (xiv. 
7-24) ;  the  parable  of  the  lost  piece  of  money  (xv. 
8-10);  the  prodigal  son  (xv.  11-32);  the  unjust 
steward  (xvi.  1-13);  and  that  of  the  rich  man  and 
Lazarus  (xvi.  19-21). 

Then,  too,  we  find  where  this  evangelist  records 
the  same  events  or  addresses  which  are  also  recorded 
by  the  other  evangelists,  that  Jesus'  sympathy  for 
the  poor  and  for  poverty  is  more  pronounced.  In 
recording  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist,  Luke 
alone  states  how  John  charged  the  publicans  not  to 


JESUS'  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH         93 

extort,  the  soldiers  to  be  content  with  their  pay,  and 
the  rich  to  share  their  garments  with  the  poor, 
(iii.  1 1 -1 5.)  In  describing  the  call  of  Peter,  Andrew, 
James,  and  John,  it  is  he  again  who  tells  us  that 
they  left  alL  The  other  evangelists  do  not  mention 
that.  (Matt.  iv.  22;  Mark  i.  20;  Luke  v.  11.)  The 
same  is  true  of  the  account  of  the  call  of  Matthew, 
or  Levi.     (Matt.  ix.  9;  Mark  ii.  14;  Luke  v.  28.) 

Comparing  the  reports  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  as  given  by  Luke  with  that  given  by  Matthew, 
the  same  facts  are  noticeable.  Where  Matthew  has 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,"  Luke  has  ** Blessed 
are  ye  poor."  (Matt.  v.  3;  Luke  vi.  20.)  Where 
Matthew  has  '*  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness,"  Luke  has  ** Blessed  are 
ye  that  hunger  now."  (Matt.  v.  6;  Luke  vi.  21.) 
Where  Matthew  has  **Give  to  him  that  asketh 
thee,"  Luke  has  *'Give  to  everyone  that  asketh 
thee."  (Matt.  v.  42;  Luke  vi.  30.)  Where  Mat- 
thew has  **Love  your  enemies  and  pray  for  them  that 
persecute  you,"  Luke  has  *'Love  your  enemies  and 
do  them  good,  and  lend,  never  despairing."  (Matt. 
V.  44;  Luke  vi.  35.) 

Then  he  inserts  material  in  that  sermon  for  which 
there  is  nothing  corresponding  in  Matthew;  as,  '*  Woe 
unto  you  that  are  rich"  and  "Woe  unto  you,  ye  that 
are  full  now!  for  ye  shall  hunger."  (vi.  24,  25.) 
The  same  is  noticeable  in  other  parts  of  the  gospel. 
In  the  story  of  the  rich  young  man,  Matthew  has 


94  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

"Sell  that  thou  hast/'  Luke  has  "Sell  all  that  thou 
hast.**  Matthew  tells  us  that  "the  rich  youth  went 
away  sorrowful,"  Luke  says  that  "he  became  exceed- 
ing sorrowful";  Matthew  states  that  he  had  "great 
possessions,"  Luke  tells  us  that  "he  wasz/^ry/'/V/^." 
(Matt.  xix.  21,  22\  Luke  xviii.  22,  23.) 

In  recording  Jesus*  charge  to  the  twelve  on  the 
occasion  of  their  mission,  Mark  represents  him  as 
allowing  them  the  use  of  a  staff  on  their  journey, 
while  Luke,  in  common  with  Matthew,  represents 
him  as  allowing  them  nothing.  (Mark  vi.  8;  Matt. 
X.  9;  Luke  ix.  3.) 

Much  has  been  made  of  these  differences,  but 
they  amount  to  little. 

That  John  should  say  anything  concerning  ques- 
tions of  wealth  is  not  to  be  expected.  He  wrote 
his  gospel  to  strengthen  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Jesus. 
(John  XX.  21.)  Discussions  of  Jesus  that  bore  on 
questions  of  wealth  would  not  be  in  the  line  of  his 
purpose. 

Nor  is  it  strange  that  such  discussions  are  not 
found  in  Mark.  According  to  Papias,  this  gospel  is 
based  upon  reminiscences  of  Peter.  The  consensus 
of  biblical  criticism  is  that  this  statement  is  reliable, 
except  that  not  the  present  gospel,  but  an  older 
gospel  upon  which  it  is  based,  was  formed  from 
these  reminiscences.  Peter  was  a  genial,  frank,  im- 
pulsive, large-hearted  man,  a  good  talker,  and  a 
splendid  witness,  but  had  a  somewhat  limited  edu- 


JESUS'  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH         95 

cation.  Upon  a  person  of  that  type  deeds  rather 
than  speeches  would  make  an  impression,  and  these 
we  find  in  the  gospel  of  Mark,  and  they  are  told  in 
a  realistic,  rough,  racy,  unvarnished,  truly  Petrine 
way.  Both  John  and  Mark  must  be  supplemented 
by  a  record,  or  records,  which  take  note  of  the 
speeches  of  Jesus,  which  John  omitted  because  of  his 
purpose,  and  Mark  because  of  his  source. 

Such  records  we  have  in  the  gospels  of  Matthew 
and  Luke.  Both  record  several  discussions  of  Jesus 
that  bear  on  matters  of  property.  That  Luke's 
record  should  be  much  the  fuller  of  the  two,  and 
that  he  should  paint  the  Saviour's  love  for  the  poor 
and  his  fear  of  riches  in  much  stronger  colors  than 
Matthew,  is  not  strange,  in  view  of  his  position  and 
character. 

Luke  was  a  dear  friend  (Col.  iv.  14)  and  fellow- 
laborer  of  the  apostle  Paul  (Philem.  24).  Paul  had 
counted  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of 
Jesus.  (Phil.  iii.  8.)  It  is  extremely  likely  that 
Luke  had  done  the  same.  Indeed  it  is  almost 
certain. 

His  calling  before  he  began  to  preach  was  that 
of  a  physician.  This  ranked  him  with  the  educated 
and  respected  class.  As  a  preacher  of  the  gospel 
and  a  co-laborer  with  Paul  he  was  made  as  "the 
refuse"  of  the  world,  (i  Cor.  iv.  13.)  He  had 
sacrificed  far  more  for  his  Master  than  had  Matthew, 
at  least  than  the  original  Matthew,  who  was  only  a 


96  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

publican.  Sayings  of  Jesus  which  set  forth  the 
value  of  sacrifice  would  seem  to  such  a  man  to  be 
exceedingly  dear  and  important. 

The  people  to  whom  he  wrote  were  such  as  would 
more  likely  be  impressed  with  the  benevolence  and 
sympathy  of  Jesus  than  with  anything  else  concern- 
ing him.  Luke  was  a  gentile  Christian  (Col.  iv. 
10-14)  who  wrote  to  gentile  Christians.  He  ad- 
dressed his  gospel  to  Theophilus.  This  man  was 
probably  the  wealthy  Theophilus  of  Antioch,  Syria, 
of  whom  Clement  makes  mention.  (Clementine 
Recognitions  X.  71.)  He  was  at  any  rate  Luke's 
pair  onus  libri,  the  man  whose  wealth  enabled  him 
to  pubHsh  his  gospel.  Through  the  assistance  of 
this  man  he  sought  to  reach  the  churches  of  the 
Greek  world,  and  commend  the  Saviour  to  such 
Greeks  as  did  not  yet  believe  in  him.  The  Greeks 
we  know  revered  and  extolled  the  perfect  man,  the 
man  of  beauty,  power,  and  sympathy.  Whoever 
sought  to  convert  them  to  Jesus  would  have  to  keep 
these  national  characteristics  in  mind,  and  like  a 
wise  and  tactful  man  Luke  did  this. 

Incidents  which  might  possibly  be  taken  as  re- 
flecting on  the  majesty  or  love  of  Jesus,  such  as  his 
despairing  cry  on  the  cross  (Matt,  xxvii.  46;  Mark 
XV.  34),  or  his  seeming  unwillingness  at  first  to  help 
the  Canaanitish  woman  (Matt.  xv.  26;  Markvii.  27), 
he  leaves  out  of  his  narrative.  Incidents  which 
would  most  likely  commend  the  Saviour,  such  as  set 


JESUS'  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH         97 

forth  his  sympathy  and  thoughtfulness  for  the  needy, 
he  made  as  much  of  as  possible.  This  is  strikingly 
seen  in  his  stories  of  Christ's  miracles.  He  alone 
will  tell  us,  for  instance,  when  Jesus  raised  a  child, 
that  it  was  an  only  child  (viii.  42),  when  he  healed 
a  son,  that  it  was  an  only  son  (ix.  38),  when  he 
healed  a  hand,  that  it  was  the  rights  the  one  most 
needed  (vi.  6). 

He  gathered  his  material  from  a  people  among 
whom  the  sympathy  of  Jesus  for  the  poor  was  fondly 
cherished.  Luke  was  not  an  eye-witness  of  what  he 
wrote.  He  could  not  describe  what  he  had  seen  and 
heard  as  John  could,  (i  John  i.  I.)  He  had  to 
depend  in  part  upon  the  statements  of  those  who 
from  the  beginning  were  eye-witnesses  and  ministers 
of  the  word.  (Luke  i.  i.)  To  meet  these  men  he 
probably  traveled  to  Palestine,  as  many  of  them 
must  have  lived  in  that  country.  At  any  rate,  he  got 
some  of  his  information  from  Palestinian  sources. 
We  learn  this  from  the  many  Hebraisms  in  the  first 
two  chapters  of  his  gospel.  The  presence  of  vari- 
ous strange  words  in  the  section  of  his  gospel  pecu- 
liar to  it — from  chapter  ix.  51  to  chapter  xviii.  14 — 
also  points  that  way.  These  strange  words  are 
absent  when  Luke  relates  what  his  gospel  has  in 
common  with  the  others.  A  translation  from  a 
foreign  tongue,  like  the  Aramaean,  gives  a  natural 
explanation  for  them. 

From  thirty  to  fifty  years  after  Jesus,  when  Luke 


98  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

collected  the  material  for  his  history,  the  sayings  of 
Jesus  in  the  interest  of  the  poor  must  have  been 
pecuHarly  cherished.  The  Palestinian  Christians 
were  generally  very  poor.  The  book  of  Acts  and 
the  epistles  of  Paul  show  their  need  of  constant 
help.  (2  Cor.  viii.  4-13;  ix.  12;  Gal.  ii.  10.)  Such 
sayings  of  Jesus  as  were  most  to  their  interest  were 
naturally  much  discussed.^  With  glowing  enthusi- 
asm these  people  would  tell  Luke  of  Christ's 
interest  in  them,  and  describe  the  state  of  the 
church,  fresh  from  the  influence  of  her  risen  Lord, 
when  the  needy  were  kindly  remembered,  when  a 
beautiful  spirit  of  fellowship  bound  all  the  Christians 
together  as  one  family,  when  no  one  said  that  aught 
had  was  his  own,  but  when  all  things  were  held  in 
common.^ 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  Luke  has  given  us  a 
different  view  of  Jesus'  attitude  to  matters  of  prop- 
erty than  we  gather  from  the  gospels  of  Mark  and 
of  John,  or  even  from  Matthew. 

Is  this  view  that  Luke  gives  us  of  Jesus'  attitude 
to  property  an  accurate  one?  Do  not  the  various 
influences — the  bias,  if  you  please — that  wrought 
upon  his  mind  in  the  production  of  his  gospel  cast 
suspicion  upon  its  trustworthiness?     Why  should  it? 

*  The  epistle  of  James,  which  arose  among  them,  suggests  an 
unfriendly  feeling  among  them  toward  the  rich.  (James  v.  i-6.)  This 
epistle  has  the  same  characteristics  which  are  found  in  the  gospel  of 
Luke. 

»  See  the  influence  of  these  Palestinian  informants,  or  sources,  in 
the  first  part  of  the  book  of  Acts.    (Acts  ii.  43-47;  iv.  32-37.) 


JESUS*  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH         99 

How  do  we  know  that  these  influences  were  not  the 
very  things  needed  to  picture  the  Saviour  accurately? 
Luke's  own  liking,  that  of  the  people  for  whom  he 
wrote,  and  that  of  those  from  among  whom  his 
material  was  collected,  for  a  Christ  who  made  much 
of  the  poor,  and  who  was  deeply  interested  in  mat- 
ters of  property,  might  have  been  the  agencies  of 
God  to  give  the  world  a  symmetrical  view  of  its 
Lord.  If  God  makes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise 
him  (Ps.  Ixxvi.  lo),  he  can  certainly  make  use  of  a 
people's  likings. 

At  any  rate,  the  veracity  of  a  gospel  is  not  to  be 
impunged  because  its  author  is  a  deeply  sympathetic 
and  tactful  man,  if  he  is  otherwise  thorough.  To 
object  to  Luke  on  that  ground  is  practically  equiva- 
lent to  saying  that  he  was  too  good  a  man  to  be 
an  evangelist.  To  claim  that  the  poor  Christians 
of  Palestine  idealized  Christ's  sympathy  for  them 
and  that  their  traditions  of  his  interest  in  economic 
affairs  were  not  true,  is  sheer  assumption. 

There  is  another  variation  found  in  the  gospels 
that  solicits  our  attention.  It  is  between  Luke  and 
Matthew  as  regards  the  place  where  one  of  Jesus' 
discussions  was  given,  and  also  as  regards  a  differ- 
ence in  their  phraseology  where  they  relate  the  same 
addresses. 

Biblical  critics  are  virtually  agreed  that  we  have 
in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Luke  an  account  of  the  same 
sermon  which  is  more  fully  recorded  in  the  fifth, 


lOO  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

sixth,  and  seventh  chapters  of  Matthew.^  There  is 
some  difference  between  these  accounts.  The  ques- 
tion is,  Which  of  the  two  is  the  more  accurate? 

The  probabiHty  is  that  Matthew's  gospel  is  the 
older.  This  is  in  itself  not  of  much  value,  but  it  has 
a  certain  weight  in  Matthew's  favor.  So  has  the 
fact  that  he  was  an  eye-witness  of  the  events  which 
he  describes.  So,  too,  has  the  unity  that  runs 
through  his  record  of  the  discourse.  It  is  defensive 
throughout,  and  successively  deals  with  themes  which 
Jesus,  as  we  learn  from  other  parts  of  the  gospel, 
esteemed  most  vital.  This  order  and  unity  would 
hardly  exist  had  it  been  delivered  in  that  detached 
and  fragmentary  manner  which  Luke  suggests. 

In  the  interest  of  harmonizing  details  as  to  the 
location — Matthew  giving  the  mountain  as  the  place, 
and  Luke  the  plain — and  also  to  account  for  the 
somewhat  loose  connection  of  some  of  the  sayings  in 
the  latter  part  of  Matthew's  discourse,  Professor 
Bruce  has  suggested  that  the  various  themes  were 
discussed  on  successive  days  during  an  outing  which 
Jesus  took  with  his  followers ;  perhaps  the  beatitudes 
on  one  day,  the  righteousness  of  the  kingdom  on 
another  day,  and  prayer  on  a  third,  some  of  the  dis- 
cussions taking  place  on  the  mountain  and  some  at 

*  There  are  some  conservative  scholars  who  believe  that  they  are  re- 
ports of  separate  discourses,  one  given  at  the  commencement,  another 
later  in  the  ministry.  Popular  teaching  requires  repetition  of  the  same 
forms,  and  to  varying  multitudes.  Jesus,  it  is  claimed,  would  often  re- 
peat his  discourses.  This  theory  obviates  the  difficulty  of  the  difference 
in  the  phraseology. 


JESUS'  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH       loi 

its  base.  This  is  not  improbable.  Indeed,  it  is  so 
probable,  and  the  divergence  as  to  the  location  is 
such  an  insignificant  matter,  that  it  need  not  further 
detain  us. 

The  divergencies  in  phraseology,  where  they 
affect  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  as  where  Matthew  repre- 
sents him  as  saying  ''Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit," 
while  Luke  says  that  he  said  ''Blessed  are  ye  poor," 
are  more  serious  (Cp.  Matt.  v.  3,  4,  5;  Luke  vi.  20, 
21).  On  this  divergence  Godet,  in  his  commentary 
on  Luke,  says:  "The  text  of  Matthew  presents  here 
two  important  differences:  First,  he  employs  the 
third  person  instead  of  the  second;  'Blessed  are  the 
poor,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven';  'They 
that  mourn,  for  they  shall  be  comforted,*  etc.  The 
beatitudes  which  in  Luke  are  addressed  directly  to 
the  hearers,  are  represented  here  under  the  form  of 
general  maxims  and  moral  sentiments.  Second,  in 
Matthew  these  maxims  have  an  exclusively  spiritual 
meaning;  'The  poor  in  spirit,  they  who  hunger  after 
righteousness.'  .  .  .  Two  things  appear  evident  to 
us:  (i)  That  the  direct  form  of  address  in  Luke, 
'Ye,'  can  alone  be  historically  accurate.  Jesus  was 
speaking  to  his  hearers,  not  discoursing  before  them; 
(2)  That  this  first  difference  has  led  to  the  second; 
having  adopted  the  third  person  and  given  the  beati- 
tudes that  Maschil  form,  so  often  found  in  the 
didactic  part  of  the  Old  Testament  (Psalms  and 
Proverbs),  Matthew  was  obliged  to  bring  out  ex- 


I02  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

pressly  in  the  text  of  the  discourse  those  moral  aims 
which  are  inherent  in  the  very  persons  of  the  poor 
whom  Jesus  addressed  directly  in  Luke,  and  without 
which  these  words,  in  this  abstract  form,  would  have 
been  somewhat  too  unqualified."  (Godet,  Gospel 
of  Luke,  p.  201.) 

The  explanation  of  the  variation  appears  to  be 
this :  On  account  of  various  ceremonial  rules,  most 
of  them  having  reference  to  purifying,  the  conscien- 
tious Jew  could  not  profitably  carry  on  business. 
There  were  several  days  when  it  was  impossible. 
This  turned  to  the  advantage  of  the  less  conscien- 
tious element,  the  class  which  ignored  ceremonial 
regulations.  As  a  result,  they  got  the  business  and 
the  capital,  while  the  good  became  poor.  From 
these  the  larger  number  of  the  hearers  of  Jesus  came. 
He  acted  like  a  magnet  in  Judaism,  drawing  the 
morally  better  to  him.  Hence  he  could  say  that  if 
one  heard  and  saw  him,  and  believed  not,  that  he 
stood  by  his  unbelief  condemned,  as  one  who  loves 
darkness  rather  than  the  light,  because  his  works  are 
evil.    (John  iii.  19.) 

These  people  were  not  only  poor,  but  were  also 
perplexed.  They  beUeved  that  poverty  and  riches 
came  directly  from  God,  and  that  his  faithful  ser- 
vants were  rewarded  with  earthly  possessions.  How 
to  reconcile  their  poverty  with  such  a  conception  of 
God's  government  was  exceedingly  puzzling.  It 
bewildered  them.     Why  were  the    unrighteous  so 


JESUS'  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH       103 

prosperous,  and  they  so  poor?  What  had  they  done 
to  deserve  it?  Is  it  not  natural  that  Jesus  should 
have  opened  his  discourse  with  comforting  words 
for  these  people?  They  certainly  needed  them, 
needed  to  know  that  their  poverty  instead  of  being 
a  sign  of  God's  disapproval  was  rather  an  evidence 
of  their  acceptableness,  and  so  adapting  his  words 
to  their  need,  Jesus  said,  '*  Blessed  are  ye  poor,  for 
yours  is  the  kingdom  of  God.  Blessed  are  ye  that 
hunger  now,  for  ye  shall  be  filled  ....  but  woe 
unto  you  that  are  rich,  for  ye  have  received  your 
consolation."  '*Woe  unto  ye  that  are  full,  for  ye 
shall  hunger."  (Luke  vi.  20;  xxi.  24,  25.)  These 
latter  sayings  suggest  that  among  his  hearers  were 
also  some  of  the  wealthy  ones.  Well-to-do,  sleek, 
self-satisfied,  and  proud,  they  were  as  much  in  need 
of  discomposure  as  were  the  poor  of  comfort. 

Another  argument  in  favor  of  the  phraseology  of 
Luke  is,  that  the  less  spiritual  saying — such  as  his 
is — would  not  likely  be  substituted  for  the  more 
spiritual  saying  of  Matthew.  What,  then,  are  the 
results?  That  Luke's  phraseology  is  historically  the 
more  accurate  and  that  Matthew  has  simply  given 
us  an  interpretation  of  it,  and  that  the  two  Gospels 
are  in  perfect  accord  in  their  teaching. 

If  we  may  assume  that  these  words  were  in  the 
original  apostolic  Matthew,  and  there  is  no  reason 
why  we  should  not,  Matthew,  a  native  of  Palestine, 
a  disciple  of  Jesus,  knowing  the  character  of  the 


I04  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

poor  to  whom  Jesus  addressed  the  sermon,  as  people 
who  hungered  and  thirsted  for  righteousness,  and 
recognizing  that  the  sayings  of  Jesus  were  apt  to 
give  a  wrong  impression  when  they  were  generally 
applied,  changed  their  phraseology  and  gave  us  their 
meaning  instead  of  their  form,  Luke,  who  was  a 
foreigner,  less  acquainted  with  the  character  of 
Jesus,  had  no  other  recourse  but  to  write  literally 
what  was  told  him,  or  what  he  found  in  his  sources. 

The  other  variations  in  the  phraseology  do  not 
affect  the  teaching,  and  may  be  passed  over  in 
silence. 

The  accusation  has  been  made  against  Luke  that 
he  colors  his  material;  that  he  describes  things  that 
were  exceptional  as  universal;  that  he  is  given  to 
exaggeration,  and  to  converting  the  language  of  en- 
thusiasm into  a  sober  record  of  facts.  He  relates, 
they  say,  in  one  place  how  Jesus  declared  to  a  great 
multitude  that  unless  they  forsook  all  they  could  not 
be  his  disciples  (xiv.  33),  whereas,  in  another  place 
he  shows  that  Jesus  had  disciples  who  had  property 
(viii.  3) ;  that  a  decree  went  out  from  Caesar  Augustus 
that  all  the  inhabited  earth  should  be  taxed  (ii.  i), 
whereas,  we  know  that  it  only  concerned  the  Roman 
Empire;  that  all  who  beheved  had  all  things  in  com- 
mon (Acts  ii.  44;  iv.  32),  whereas,  he  instances 
Barnabas  as  being  phenomenally  self-sacrificing 
(Acts  iv.  36) ;  that  the  five  thousand  or  more  Chris- 
tians (Acts  ii.  41;  iv.  4)  were  all  of  one  heart  and 


JESUS'  TEACHINGS  ON  WEALTH       105 

soul  (Acts  iv.  32),  whereas,  we  know,  from  his  own 
story,  that  they  were  much  divided  (Acts  vi.  i). 

Sifting  this  down,  it  simply  shows  that  Luke 
might,  as  an  eloquent  historian,  have  used  an  occa- 
sional universal  for  a  particular,  but  more  cannot  be 
proven;  and  who  can  prove  that  Augustus  did  not 
speak  of  his  realm  as  embracing  the  inhabited  earth, 
or  that  Jesus  did  not  make  that  severe  demand  of  a 
fickle  crowd,  or  that  the  early  disciples  were  not  at 
first  all  united,  but  in  the  course  of  time  disagreed? 
When  the  opportunity  for  testing  the  historicity  of 
Luke  is  offered  he  stands  the  test  well.  We  are 
greatly  indebted  to  him  for  the  valuable  light  that  he 
has  thrown  on  the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus,  and 
any  account  of  Jesus  which  depreciates  Luke  is  to 
that  extent  incomplete. 

Each  gospel  makes  its  contribution  toward  help- 
ing us  to  estimate  Jesus'  teachings.  To  each  we 
owe  a  special  debt.  For  the  variations  that  exist 
between  them  we  are  grateful.  They  make  the 
Saviour  better  known.  They  blend  together  like 
prismatic  colors,  into  the  white  light  of  a  perfect 
revelation. 


THE   PURPOSE  OF   JESUS'  MINISTRY 


"The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 
Because  he  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to 

the  poor: 
He  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives, 
And  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind, 
To  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised. 
To  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord." 
—(Luke  iv.  i8,  19.) 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  PURPOSE  OF  JESUS'  MINISTRY 

Did  the  unhappy  economic  conditions  of  Pales- 
tine touch  Jesus,  and  did  he  endeavor  to  improve 
them,  or  had  his  ministry  a  different  end  in  view? 

That  the  unhappy  conditions  of  the  people  pained 
him  no  one  who  reads  the  gospels  can  possibly  fail 
to  notice.  His  first  recorded  sermon  shows  it.  It 
was  based  on  a  text  from  Isaiah,  every  word  of  which 
throbs  with  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate.  '*The 
spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me;  Because  he  hath 
anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor;  He 
hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives,  and 
recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind.  To  set  at  liberty 
them  that  are  bruised.  To  proclaim  the  acceptable 
year  of  the  Lord."  (Is.  Ixi.  1,2;  Luke  iv.  18,  19.) 
When  a  few  months  later  John  the  Baptist  wanted 
to  know  if  he  were  the  Messiah,  he  gave  the  fact  of 
his  sympathy  and  helpfulness  toward  the  unfortu- 
nate as  proof:  *'Go  your  way,"  he  said  to  John's 
messengers,  *'and  tell  John  what  things  you  have 
seen  and  heard;  the  bUnd  receive  their  sight,  the 
lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf 
hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up,  the  poor  have  good 
tidings  preached  to  them."  (Luke  vii.  22.)  The 
109 


no  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

welfare  of  the  unfortunate  class,  such  as  the  sick, 
the  blind,  and  the  poor,  lay  close  to  his  heart. 

It  was  on  this  account  that  the  poor  were  so 
devoted  to  him.  They  were  his  most  devoted  fol- 
lowers. When  he  delivered  the  largest  discourse 
that  has]  been  recorded,  they  formed  the  bulk  of  his 
hearers.  Otherwise  the  words  with  which  he  opened 
this  discourse  would  be  devoid  of  meaning.  ' '  Blessed 
are  ye  poor;  for  yours  is  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Blessed  are  ye  that  hunger  now;  for  ye  shall  be 
filled.  Blessed  are  ye  that  weep  now;  for  ye  shall 
laugh  ....  but  woe  unto  you  that  are  rich;  for 
ye  have  received  your  consolation."  (Matt.  v.  3 ;  iv. 
6;  Luke  vi.  20,  21-24.)  Some  of  those  who  fol- 
lowed him  worried  about  their  daily  necessities. 
''Be  not  anxious,"  he  said  to  them,  ''for  your  Hfe, 
what  ye  shall  eat;  nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye 
shall  put  on;  for  the  life  is  more  than  food  and  the 
body  than  raiment."     (Luke  xii.  22,  23.) 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  this,  as  has  some- 
times been  done,  that  his  love  for  the  poor  was  to 
the  exclusion  of  his  love  for  the  rich.  He  was  no 
partisan.  He  never  played  the  role  of  a  demagogue. 
Class  feeling  was  already  too  bitter,  he  would  remove 
it,  not  intensify  it.  How  far  Renan  and  others  are 
wrong,  in  representing  Jesus  as  an  enemy  of  the  rich, 
is  seen  from  the  number  of  well-to-do  people  that  he 
gathered  around  him.  There  was  Joanne,  the  wife 
of  Chusa,  Herod's  steward  (Luke  viii.  2),  Mary,  the 


PURPOSE  OF  JESUS'  MINISTRY         m 

mother  of  James,  and  Salome,  who  brought  spices 
to  anoint  him  in  the  sepulcher  (Mark  xvi.  i),  Mary- 
Magdalene,  who  offered  to  take  charge  of  his  burial 
(John  XX.  15),  and  the  sisters  of  Bethany,  who 
opened  their  homes  for  his  entertainment  (Luke  x. 
38-42).  All  these  were  people  of  more  or  less 
wealth.  Mary  anointed  Jesus  with  an  ointment 
which,  according  to  the  estimates  of  the  apostles, 
was  worth  three  hundred  denarii,  equivalent  to  the 
wages  of  a  laborer  for  a  whole  year  (Matt.  xx.  2.) 
She  had  been  used  to  luxury,  or  else  she  would  not 
have  thought  of  such  an  expensive  ointment.  It 
shocked  the  simpler  tastes  of  some  of  the  disciples. 
There  were  other  disciples  who  had  money.  The 
scribe  to  whom  Jesus  said,  in  answer  to  his  offer 
to  follow  him,  that  he  had  no  pillow  for  his  head, 
was  used  to  comfort,  else  Jesus  would  have  used 
some  other  method  to  test  his  sincerity.  (Matt.  viii. 
19.)  Of  the  young  ruler  we  are  plainly  told  that  he 
was  very  rich.  (Luke  xviii.  23;  Matt.  xix.  21.) 
Joseph  of  Arimathea  was  a  rich  man.  (Matt.  xxvi. 
57.)  Nicodemus  was  a  ruler  of  the  Jews  and  prob- 
ably had  means.  (John  xix.  39.)  To  these  we  must 
add  John  the  apostle,  the  dearest  of  all  his  friends. 
John's  father  was  an  employer  of  labor  (Mark  i.  20), 
and  he  was  himself  a  man  of  influence.  It  was 
strong  enough  at  the  home  of  the  high  priest  to 
secure  admittance  for  him  and  his  friend  Peter  at 
Jesus'  trial.     (John  xviii.  15,  16.)     Peter  also  had 


112  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

some  means.  (Matt  viii.  14.)  Matthew  had  means 
enough  and  a  home  large  enough  to  spread  a  feast 
for  a  great  company  of  pubhcans  and  Jesus  and  his 
disciples,  who  all  sat  down  together.  (Matt.  ix. 
10;  Mark  ii.  15;  Luke  v.  2T .) 

Jesus  was  the  friend  of  all.  He  had  his  follow- 
ers among  all  ranks  of  life.  His  great  heart  beat 
with  sympathy  for  everybody.  His  affection  was 
too  great  to  be  focused  on  a  single  class.  The 
Pharisee  who  invited  him  to  dine  at  his  house  was 
as  dear  to  him  as  the  penitent  sinner  who  bathed  and 
kissed  his  feet.  (Luke  vii.  36-50.)  He  accepted 
the  invitation  of  Simon  the  Pharisee  at  whose  home 
he  met  the  Pharisees,  the  nation's  pride,  as  gladly  as 
that  of  Matthew  the  publican,  at  whose  board  he 
met  the  publicans,  who  were  the  nation's  shame. 
(Matt.  ix.  10.) 

Did  Jesus  seek  to  improve  the  existing  conditions? 
Indeed  he  did.  It  was  in  his  mind  from  the  begin- 
ning of  his  ministry.  **Now  after  that  John  was 
delivered  up,  Jesus  came  into  Galilee  preaching  the 
gospel  of  God,  and  saying,  The  time  is  fulfilled,  and 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand;  repent  ye,  and  believe 
in  the  gospel."  (Mark  i.  14,  15.)  The  mean- 
ing of  the  term  the  ''Kingdom  of  God"  has  been 
much  discussed,  but  scholars  are  not  of  one  mind  as 
to  its  full  significance.  That  it  had  a  social  meaning 
is  generally  admitted.  The  term  was  not  a  new  one. 
Jewish  teachers  had  used  it  before  it  was  used  by 


PURPOSE  OF  JESUS*  MINISTRY         113 

Jesus.  It  denoted  in  their  mouth  a  kingdom  of  the 
saints  with  the  Messiah  at  their  head.  This  kingdom 
was  to  be  very  blessed.  The  reign  of  the  Messiah 
would  make  an  era  of  universal  gladness.  Some 
pictured  its  glories  most  glowingly.  War,  strife, 
discord,  and  quarrels  would  cease,  and  peace,  love, 
righteousness,  and  faithfulness  prevail.  Wild  beasts 
would  lose  their  enmity.  The  old  would  be  as  vigor- 
ous as  the  young.  Men's  age  would  be  increased  to 
nigh  upon  a  thousand  years.  Sorrow  and  sickness 
would  cease,  and  men  would  no  more  grow  weary 
at  their  work.  Even  the  deceased  IsraeHtes  were  to 
participate  in  the  glories  of  this  era,  and  to  that  end 
were  to  arise.  (Sibylline  Oracles,  Baruch  and  Book 
of  Jubilees.) 

Jesus  used  the  term  repeatedly.  He  never  inti- 
mated that  he  did  not  use  the  term  in  the  commonly 
accepted  sense.  Of  course  this  does  not  mean  that 
he  meant  to  encourage  the  hope  that  all  that  had 
been  said  respecting  it  should  be  realized;  but  it 
does  mean  that  he  encouraged  belief  in  the  main 
facts  which  the  use  of  the  term  suggested — that 
there  was  to  be  inaugurated  a  kingdom  of  saints  of 
which  the  Messiah  was  to  be  the  head,  and  that  there 
would  be  a  great  improvement  in  people's  social 
welfare. 

His  interest  in  people's  social  welfare  was  inevit- 
able, because  of  his  sympathy.  He  was  very  tender- 
hearted.    The  least  suffering  on  the  part  of  others 


114  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

pained  him.  He  was  moved  with  compassion  for 
those  who  were  hungry.  (Matt.  xv.  32.)  He  was 
filled  with  pity  for  such  as  were  weary.  (Matt.  ix. 
36.)  He  breathed  the  spirit  of  the  great  Father. 
''He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father,"  he 
said.  (John  xiv.  9.)  The  Father  pitied  suffering 
sparrows,  much  more  did  he  pity  suffering  men. 
(Luke  xii.  6.) 

But  there  was  a  deeper  reason  than  sympathy 
and  pity.  Jesus  believed  that  social  well-being 
here  has  an  influence  on  one's  well-being  in  the 
hereafter,  and  to  promote  that  was  the  great  pur- 
pose of  his  ministry.  Jesus  thought  in  ages.  He 
lived  in  the  presence  of  eternity.  The  future  life 
was  ever  before  his  vision.  On  no  subject  is  his 
teaching  so  full  as  on  Hfe  after  death.  A  hundred 
references  to  it  are  scattered  through  the  gospels. 
The  gospel  of  Luke,  whose  author  is  sometimes 
called  the  ''Sociahst  EvangeHst"  (Rogge,  p.  10), 
because  of  his  marked  love  for  the  poor  and  his 
delight  to  picture  Jesus'  love  for  them,  reports 
twenty-nine.  Some  of  these  references  in  the  gos- 
pels relate  to  the  resurrection,  of  which  Jesus  is  to 
be  the  agent  (John  xi.  25);  some  to  the  judgment, 
at  which  Jesus  is  to  preside  (Matt.  xxv.  32-41);  some 
to  the  glories  upon  which  those  who  are  approved 
shall  enter  (Luke  xx.  36);  some  to  the  miseries 
which  such  as  are  rejected  shall  endure  (Luke  x. 
13,  14;  xiii.  25-28). 


PURPOSE  OF  JESUS'  MINISTRY         115 

The  ethical  truths,  obedience  to  which  was  urged 
by  Jesus,  have  the  future  Hfe  for  a  background. 
He  urged  people  to  believe  in  order  that  they  might 
have  life  eternal  (John  vi.  40) ;  to  obey  that  they 
might  not  see  death  (John  viii.  51);  to  forgive  that 
the  Father  might  not  deliver  them  up  for  punishment 
(Matt,  xviii.  15-35);  to  be  benevolent  that  they 
might  make  friends  in  heaven  (Luke  xvi.  9);  to  be 
humble  that  they  might  gain  glory  hereafter  (Luke 
xviii.  17);  to  watch  and  pray  so  as  to  stand  before 
the  son  of  man  (Luke  xxi.  36);  to  repent  so  as  to 
escape  from  woe  (Luke  x.  14);  to  be  discreet  and 
meek  and  believing  so  as  to  escape  in  the  judgment 
(John  xii.  48;  Matt.  xii.  36;  v.  22). 

The  same  is  true  of  economic  truth.  The  great 
obstacles  to  the  progress  of  truth  are  care  and  world- 
liness.  **The  care  of  the  world  and  the  deceitfulness 
of  riches  choke  the  word."  (Matt.  xiii.  22.)  Who 
is  more  liable  to  care  than  he  who  is  anxious  what 
to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  who  are  so  liable  to  worship 
wealth  as  the  rich.?  He  urged  upon  men  the  faith- 
ful use  of  money,  that  they  might  obtain  great 
spiritual  riches  in  the  life  that  follows.  (Luke 
xvi.  10-12.)  He  instructs  them  to  be  kind  to 
the  needy,  so  they  may  not  land  in  gehenna.  (Luke 
xvi.  19-23.)  Our  riches  are  a  trust,  their  faithful 
use  will  merit  God's  ''Well  done,"  their  unfaithful 
use  will  be  met  with  his  terrible  ** Depart,"  (Luke 
xix.  7.) 


ii6  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

If  earthly  misfortunes  created  by  unfortunate 
wealth  conditions  grieved  him,  they  did  not  hurt  him 
half  as  much  as  that  some  men  would  not  obey  God, 
and  therefore  be  miserable  in  the  life  which  is  to 
come.  If  he  grieved  because  men  were  poor,  he 
grieved  more  because  they  were  wicked.  If  he  was 
troubled  because  they  suffered  hunger  and  cold,  he 
was  more  troubled  because  they  were  not  properly 
taught — they  were  like  sheep  not  having  a  shepherd. 
(Matt.  ix.  36.)  If  he  was  grieved  at  the  multitudes 
because  of  their  physical  distress,  he  was  more 
grieved  to  see  them  live  in  sin,  and  go  to  death  and 
judgment  unrepentant,  and  therefore  unprepared. 
He  did  not  agonize  over  people  because  they  were 
poor,  he  did  not  weep  over  them  because  they  did 
not  have  enough  to  eat,  but  he  agonized  and  wept 
because  they  rejected  God's  mercy.  The  tears  of 
Olivet  and  the  bloody  sweat  of  Gethsemane  were  not 
poured  out  because  the  multitudes  experienced  the 
hardships  of  poverty.  *'The  worm  that  never 
dieth,'*  '*The  unquenchable  fire,*'  '*The  eternal 
torments,"  *'Hell,"  these  were  in  the  estimation  of 
Jesus  by  far  the  worst  evils  from  which  men  could 
suffer.  Compared  with  these,  the  evils  of  poverty 
are  small.  In  fact,  Christ  would  account  them  a 
blessing,  if  they  served  to  soften  the  heart  and  lead 
a  man  to  goodness  and  God.  **What  shall  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  soul" 
(Matt.  xvi.  26),  expresses  the  views  of  Jesus  as  to 


PURPOSE  OF  JESUS*   MINISTRY         117 

the  comparative  importance  of  welfare  in  the  present 
or  in  the  future  hfe. 

In  all  his  endeavors  to  help  the  poor  he  sought 
more  than  their  earthly  welfare.  In  all  his  activities 
for  men  the  desire  to  promote  their  spiritual  welfare 
was  prominently  present.  If  he  desired  a  greater 
equality  in  the  distribution  of  riches,  he  desired  it 
not  simply  that  the  poor  might  have  more  comforts, 
but  also  and  mainly,  that  being  freed  from  dis- 
tracting cares,  they  might  be  more  ready  to  receive 
the  gospel.  If  he  urged  the  rich  to  give,  he  desired 
not  simply  to  relieve  the  necessities  of  the  recipient, 
but  also  and  mainly,  that  the  poor  being  freed 
from  anxiety  and  the  hearts  of  the  rich  being  soft- 
ened through  giving,  they  might  both  be  more 
amenable  to  truth.  He  made  the  lame  walk  to 
remove  their  infirmity,  but  also  and  mainly,  that 
their  feet  might  be  directed  to  walk  the  path  of  life. 
He  opened  the  eyes  of  the  bHnd  to  enable  them  to 
share  in  the  blessings  of  vision,  but  also  and  mainly, 
that  their  eyes  might  be  opened  to  the  goodness 
and  love  of  God.  So  he  fed  the  poor,  and  pitied 
them,  not  simply  because  they  were  hungry,  but  that 
he  might  feed  their  souls  on  the  bread  of  life.  So 
he  gave  gifts  to  the  poor,  not  simply  to  help  them 
in  their  temporal  needs,  but  that  they  might  be  more 
ready  to  receive  him,  the  great  gift  of  God.  Be- 
tween the  seriousness  of  earthly  discomforts  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  spirit  world,  there  was,  in  Jesus' 


Ii8  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

view,  no  comparison.  Better  lame,  he  says,  than  to 
be  lost.  Better  blind  than  to  miss  entering  heaven. 
**If  thy  foot  cause  thee  to  stumble,  cut  it  off;  it  is 
good  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  halt,  rather  than 
having  two  feet  to  be  cast  into  hell.  And  if  thine 
eye  cause  thee  to  stumble,  cast  it  out;  it  is  good  for 
thee  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  with  one 
eye,  rather  than  having  two  eyes  to  be  cast  into 
hell.*'  (Mark  ix.  45-47.)  Better  hungry  all  one's 
earthly  life  than  fail  of  life  eternal. 

His  methods  for  securing  better  wealth  conditions 
were  for  that  time  unique.  Until  then  people  had 
generally  sought  to  improve  the  wealth  conditions  by 
the  enactment  of  better  laws,  by  combinations,  and 
organizations;  in  short,  by  the  purely  economic 
methods.  This  is  the  favored  way  yet.  Labor 
leaders,  professors,  reformers,  and  agitators  depend 
almost  exclusively  upon  them. 

But  with  purely  economic  measures  Jesus  had 
nothing  to  do.  He  urged  no  economic  reforms. 
To  call  Jesus  a  '* Social  agitator,"  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  ** A  treatise  on  political  economy,"  or  to 
speak  of  him  as  designing  an  ^'industrial  democracy" 
is  absolutely  unwarranted.  (The  New  Redemp- 
tion, Herron,  pp.  34,  80.)  Concerning  questions  of 
production  Jesus  said  nothing.  On  questions  of 
exchange  he  hardly  touched.  To  problems  of  distri- 
bution he  gave  only  a  little  thought.  The  subjects 
of  labor,  whether    it  should    be  free  or  slave,  of 


PURPOSE  OF  JESUS'  MINISTRY         119 

wages  and  hours  of  wages,  of  rent,  interest,  and 
taxation,  are  never  discussed.  Though  himself  a 
carpenter  and  the  son  of  a  carpenter  (Mark  vi.  3 ; 
Matt.  xiii.  55),  he  never  said  aught  on  the  question 
of  a  workingman's  pay.  All  that  is  recorded  is  that 
he  once  said  that  a  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire. 
(Luke  X.  7.)  Of  the  existence  of  master  and  slave 
he  speaks  in  the  most  matter-of-fact  way.  (Matt.  x. 
24.)  He  takes  for  granted  that  the  slave  does  what 
his  master  orders  him  to  do,  and  he  implies  that 
herein  Hes  his  duty.  (Lukex  vii.  7-10.)  The  theo- 
retic discussions  about  taxation  he  avoided.  When 
they  tried  to  get  his  opinion  he  gave  it,  but  not  until 
then.  He  told  them  that  whereas  they  enjoyed  the 
privileges  which  the  rule  of  Caesar  conferred,  that 
they  were  bound  to  support  it.  (Mark  xii.  1 4- 1/; 
Matt.  xxii.  15-22.)  Obligations  to  the  state,  he 
held,  must  be  met  as  well  as  obligations  to  God. 

He  denounced  deceit  and  oppression,  but  one 
need  not  be  an  '* economic  agitator"  to  do  that.  It 
must  not  escape  one  that  his  denunciation  was  prac- 
tically confined  to  what  he  saw  in  the  leaders  of  reli- 
gion. (Matt.  xxi.  31,  32;  xxiii.  23;  Mark  xii.  38-40.) 
His  purpose  was  not  that  of  an  economist,  or  an 
agitator,  or  a  political  or  social  reformer,  but  rather 
that  of  the  clergyman. 

This  accounts  for  his  comparative  peace  with  the 
Sadducees.  The  Sadducees  were  the  moneyed 
classes,  and  filled  the  puMic  positions.     We  read 


I20  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

that  he  predicted  that  the  chief  priests,  who  were 
Sadducees,  should  have  part  in  his  crucifixion. 
(Mark  viii.  31 ;  x.  33.)  We  also  read  that  they  once 
joined  with  the  Pharisees  in  tempting  him  (Matt, 
xvi.  1-6),  but  they  generally  left  him  alone.  His 
trouble  was  with  the  Pharisees,  the  leaders  of  reli- 
gion. They  accused  him  of  blasphemy,  of  making 
God  his  father,  and  of  breaking  the  laws  of  Moses. 
Had  Jesus  been  a  social  agitator  his  troubles  would 
have  been  with  the  Sadducees.  But  they  did  not 
disturb  him  until  they  feared  his  growing  power. 
Then  Caiaphas,  the  chief  priest  and  leader,  advised 
that  Jesus  be  put  out  of  the  way,  and  put  out  of  the 
way  he  was.     (John  xi.  50). 

In  his  desire  to  promote  the  social  well-being  of 
the  people,  Jesus  reUed  on  moral  means.  Herein 
lay  the  uniqueness  of  his  method.  It  was  an  axiom 
with  Jesus  that  there  could  be  no  better  social  con- 
dition until  the  people  were  better.  '*The  kingdom 
of  God  is  at  hand,  repent  ye,  and  beheve  in  the 
gospel."  (Mark  i.  14,  15.)  There  could  be  no  king- 
dom of  God  until  the  people  repented.  Your  life, 
he  said,  has  been  a  failure,  your  motives  have  been 
wrong,  your  habits  are  bad.  Change  your  life,  alter 
your  motives,  improve  your  habits,  turn  your 
thoughts  from  self  to  God,  seek  his  plans  and  live 
accordingly.  **If  my  people  which  are  called  by  my 
name  shall  humble  themselves,  and  pray  and  seek 
my  face,  and  turn  from  their  wicked  ways,  then  I 


PURPOSE  OF  JESUS'  MINISTRY         121 

will  hear  from  heaven  and  will  forgive  their  sin,  and 
will  heal  their  land"  (2  Chron.  vii.  14);  so  taught 
an  ancient  prophet,  and  so  taught  Jesus  as  he  went 
up  and  down  Palestine.  The  land  might  be  healed 
and  the  kingdom  of  God  established,  but  not  until 
the  people  repented. 

**  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."  (John  iii.  3.)  Right  conditions 
are  not  possible  unless  a  people  walk  in  fellowship 
with  God.  Men  can  be  right  economically  only 
when  they  are  right  religiously.  Be  meek,  he  says, 
be  pure,  be  benevolent,  charitable,  unselfish.  *'Be 
ye  merciful  even  as  your  Father  is  merciful." 
(Luke  vi.  36.) 

It  is  the  failure  of  not  realizing  the  importance 
of  a  moral  transformation  on  the  part  of  people  that 
constitutes  the  weakness  of  modern  sociaHsm. 
Socialism  makes  no  appeal  to  character.  It  never 
urges  purity  or  self-restraint  or  love  as  if  they  were 
essentials. 

"Ah,  your  Fourier's  failed. 
Because  not  poet  enough  to  understand 
That  life  develops  from  within." 

— (Aurora  Leigh,  Book  II.) 

SociaHsts  also  err  in  their  reHance  upon  outward 
conditions  to  change  character.  Jesus  acknowledged 
the  influence  of  outward  conditions  on  character,  but 
he  did  not  recognize  them  as  the  proper  agents  by 
which  to  change  it. 


122  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

It  is  also  worthy  of  note  that  he  dealt  Httle  with 
men  in  masses.  He  dealt  with  men  individually. 
There  are  several  instances  of  personal  conversa- 
tions. He  selected  twelve  men  whom  he  trained  to 
be  sent  forth.  He  seems  to  have  feared  large 
crowds.  In  this  respect,  too,  he  differs  from  the 
socialists. 

But  most  of  all  he  differs  from  them  in  that 
they  make  social  welfare  in  this  world  an  end.  A 
well-filled  larder,  a  good  bank  account,  a  home, 
with  books  and  pictures,  and  a  moderate  amount  of 
time  for  rest  and  enjoyment  is  all  they  desire.  Jesus 
said  that  if  one  has  all  that,  and  has  not  developed 
his  soul,  his  life  is  a  failure. 

And  yet  with  Jesus  ana  not  with  socialists  do 
social  questions  assume  the  greater  importance.  In 
the  one  case  the  inconveniences  and  sufferings  which 
unjust  conditions  occasion  are  only  for  this  Hfe,  as 
far  as  the  individual  is  concerned;  in  the  other, 
because  of  the  bitterness,  anxiety,  and  hardness 
which  they  engender,  and  the  bad  effects  of  that  on 
the  soul,  they  may  follow  him  to  the  hereafter. 


THE    ECONOMIC    TEACHINGS    OF 
JESUS'   LIFE 


"And  many  hearing  him  were  astonished,  saying, 
whence  hath  this  man  these  things?  And,  what  is  the  wis- 
dom that  is  given  unto  this  man,  and  what  mean  such  mighty 
works  wrought  by  his  hand?  Is  not  this  the  carpenter,  the 
son  of  Mary,  and  brother  of  James,  and  Joses,  and  Judas, 
and  Simon?  And  are  not  his  sisters  here  with  us?  And 
they  were  offended  in  him."     (Mark  vi.  2,  3.) 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  ECONOMIC  TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS' 
LIFE. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  great  purpose  of  Jesus 
was  the  promotion  of  men's  spiritual  welfare,  there 
are  a  few  topics,  relative  to  questions  of  wealth, 
concerning  which  he  has  left  us  instruction.  The 
selection  of  these  topics  by  Jesus  was  probably  de- 
termined by  the  great  influence  which  one's  attitude 
to  them  has  on  his  spiritual  development.  It  will  be 
seen  from  their  consideration  that  they  are  teachings 
which  men  are  prone  to  disregard.  The  first  topic 
to  consider  is  the  advantage  of  struggles  in  the 
formative  period  of  life.  This  is  taught  by  Jesus' 
example. 

That  the  life  of  Jesus,  as  well  as  his  utterances, 
teach  lessons,  the  Christian  world  has  universally 
recognized.  Each  act  in  his  life  is  important,  each 
experience  suggests  a  truth,  each  feature  is  fraught 
with  meaning. 

Not  the  least  significant  feature  of  that  life  is  its 
boyhood  struggle  with  poverty.  He  grew  up  **as  a 
tender  plant,  and  as  a  root  out  of  a  dry  ground — he 
was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows 
and  acquainted  with  grief."  (Isaiah  liii.  2,  3.)  His 
"5 


126  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

position  in  the  social  scale  was  that  of  a  working- 
man,  and  the  reputed  son  of  a  workingman.  The 
leaders  of  society  did  not  count  him  as  of  their 
number. 

This  feature  of  his  life  is  all  the  more  significant 
because  he  chose  it.  It  was  not  unintentional  that 
Jesus'  life  was  with  the  working-classes.  It  was  no 
accident  that  he  was  not  an  heir  to  fabulous  riches. 
It  was  no  chance  that  made  his  birthplace  Bethlehem, 
and  the  home  of  his  boyhood  Nazareth,  instead  of 
some  splendid  city  like  Caesarea,  Jericho,  or  Jerusa- 
lem. Of  all  who  ever  were  born  he  only  had  his 
choice  of  mothers,  birthplace,  riches,  rank,  and  com- 
panionship. *' Being  originally  in  the  form  of  God, 
....  he  emptied  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a 
servant."  (Phil.  ii.  6,  7.)  ''Though  he  was  rich  for 
our  sake  he  became  poor,  that  we  through  his  pov- 
erty might  be  rich."  (2  Cor.  viii.  9.)  "In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  word  and  the  word  was  with  God, 
and  the  word  was  God,  ....  and  the  word  be- 
came flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us."  (John  i.  I,  14.) 
And  when  the  word  became  flesh  he  chose  a  poor 
girl  for  his  mother,  the  country  for  his  birthplace, 
hardship  for  his  boyhood  and  youth,  laborers  for  his 
companions,  and  though  he  was  of  royal  blood,  not 
once  referred  to  it. 

He  chose  a  poor  girl  for  his  mother.  Mary,  the 
mother  of  Jesus,  belonged  to  the  humbler  ranks  of 
Hfe.      The  man  to  whom  she  was  betrothed,   and 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS'   LIFE  127 

whom  she  married,  was  the  village  carpenter,  an 
upright  man  named  Joseph.  Both  of  them  were 
poor.  This  is  evinced  by  all  the  acts  and  incidents 
respecting  them  recorded  in  the  gospels. 

The  first  one  is  the  manner  of  Jesus'  birth.  An 
order  from  Augustus  had  driven  them  to  Bethlehem. 
The  only  inn  in  the  village  was  full,  and  nothing  but 
a  cave  or  stall  was  to  be  had  for  shelter.  Had  they 
been  people  with  money  some  other  arrangement 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  made,  especially  under 
the  circumstances.  But  a  stall  or  stable  was  all  they 
could  obtain,  and  there  it  was  that  they  looked  in 
the  face  of  Mary's  first  born  child.  Poor,  lonely, 
suffering  strangers!  The  wealthy  people  of  Bethle- 
hem gladdened  them  not  with  their  calls,  and  the 
leaders  of  the  town  probably  took  no  notice  of  their 
need. 

God  alone  remembered  them.  Watching  their 
flocks  by  night,  some  shepherds  were  startled  by  a 
halo  of  light.  In  a  vision  in  which  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  came  to  them  they  were  told  that  the  child  in 
the  stable  was  the  long-expected  Messiah.  With  the 
vision  still  burning  in  their  minds  they  told  the  lonely 
parents  what  they  had  seen  and  heard.  So  their 
hearts  were  gladdened,  and  their  faith  waxed  strong. 

Another  fact  which  indicates  their  humble  con- 
dition is  their  sacrifice  at  Jerusalem.  When  Jesus 
was  forty  days  old  they  brought  him  to  Jerusalem 
for  presentation  to  the  Lord.     It  was  customary  on 


128  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

such  occasions  for  parents  to  offer  something  in 
grateful  acknowledgment  for  God's  care  of  the 
mother  and  for  the  gift  of  the  child.  The  usual 
offering  was  a  lamb,  the  price  of  which  was  at  this 
time  about  a  dollar,  but  in  case  the  people  were 
poor,  a  pair  of  turtle-doves  or  two  young  pigeons. 
Grateful  hearts  like  Mary's  and  Joseph's  would  make 
the  offering  as  large  as  their  circumstances  allowed. 
But  all  they  offered  were  the  pigeons.  They  offered 
the  poor  man's  sacrifice. 

The  third  fact  which  suggests  their  need  are  the 
gifts  of  the  Magi.  Herod  the  king,  crazed  with 
jealousy,  had  heard  of  the  birth  of  a  king.  His  plot 
to  murder  all  the  babes  in  Bethlehem  and  vicinity 
compelled  the  flight  to  Egypt.  As  if  preparing 
them  for  the  flight,  these  Magi  gave  them  gold  and 
spices.  This  act  of  the  Magi  has  such  a  providen- 
tial aspect  as  to  make  it  almost  sure  that  it  was  a 
case  of  the  almighty  provider  caring  for  the  needs 
of  his  penniless  children. 

If  he  chose  for  a  mother  a  godly  woman,  un- 
known to  fame  and  riches,  he  chose  for  the  place  in 
which  to  grow  up  the  country.  For  Nazareth  was 
virtually  country.  Until  the  days  of  Jerome  the  place 
is  never  mentioned.  Its  identity  was  very  nearly  lost, 
its  name  forgotten,  so  that  even  now  we  are  not  cer- 
tain how  it  should  be  spelled;  Nazareth,  Nazaret, 
or  Nazara.  These  things  would  not  have  happened 
had  it  had  some  size.     It  probably  was  the  small- 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS'  LIFE  129 

ness  of  the  place  more  than  its  wickedness  that 
caused  Nathanael's  skeptical  query,  **Can  any  good 
thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?"  (John  i.  46.)  It  was 
not  a  beautiless  place.  From  a  hill  above  the  place, 
five  hundred  feet  high,  the  choicest  part  of  Palestine 
was  visible.  To  the  north  lay  the  narrow  and  fertile 
plain  of  Asochis,  beyond  which  rose  the  wood- 
crowned  hills  of  Naphtali,  with  snow-capped  Her- 
mon  in  the  far  horizon  beyond.  To  the  east  rose 
beautiful  Tabor,  clothed  with  terebinth  and  oak.  To 
the  west  his  gaze  could  rest  on  Carmel,  and  on  the 
sea  upon  whose  waters  freighted  vessels  crossed. 
Southward  lay  the  plain  of  Esdraelon. 

The  place  was  as  suggestive  as  beautiful.  Espe- 
cially as  he  gazed  to  the  south  suggestive  scenes 
would  stir  his  memory,  for  on  the  plain  of  Esdraelon 
the  greatest  battles  of  the  nation  had  been  fought. 

Nor  was  it  isolated.  Not  far  from  Nazareth  ran 
several  great  routes.  Over  these  passed  many 
travelers,  pilgrims,  caravans,  and  military  expedi- 
tions. Clannishness,  under  these  conditions,  was 
scarcely  possible.  *' Nazareth  was  at  the  crossing- 
place  of  nations,  where  commerce  and  miUtary 
changes  gave  daily  familiarity  with  all  the  neighbor- 
ing races.'*     (Geike,  Life  of  Christ,  p.  115.) 

If  he  chose  a  humble  mother  and  a  humble  birth- 
place, he  also  chose  a  humble  occupation,  and  a  life 
of  hard  work.  Tradition  tells  us  that  he  was  a 
maker  of  yokes  and  plows,  while  the   Bible  calls 


130  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

him  a  carpenter.  **Is  not  this  the  carpenter,  the  son 
of  Mary,  the  brother  of  James,  and  Joses,  and  Judas 
and  Simon?"  the  people  of  Nazareth  asked,  aston- 
ished at  his  wisdom.  (Mark  vi.  3.)  As  he  is  never 
called  a  carpenter  by  any  other  people  but  those  of 
Nazareth,  it  is  presumed  that  his  activities  as  a 
mechanic  were  limited  to  that  place.  He  did  not 
even  do  the  finer,  easier  work  that  falls  to  the  city 
mechanic.  It  is  probable  that  there  was  a  shop  at 
or  near  the  house,  in  which  such  things  were  wrought 
as  farmers  and  villagers  ordered,  but  that  most  of 
his  work  was  done  at  the  people*s  houses.  This 
work  would  include  all  sorts  of  mechanical  labor, 
there  being  no  such  subdivision  of  work  as  in  the 
larger  cities,  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  one  tradition 
represents  him  as  making  yokes  and  plows,  while 
another  calls  him  a  carpenter. 

Because  Joseph  is  never  referred  to  in  the  gospels 
it  is  surmised  that  he  was  dead.  Tradition  says 
that  he  died  in  the  Saviour's  boyhood,  and  that 
Jesus,  being  the  oldest  child  in  the  home,  assumed 
the  care  of  the  household. 

Choosing  a  boyhood  and  youth  of  hard  work  and 
of  comparative  poverty,  he  did  not  have  what  men 
would  call  the  best  educational  advantages.  He  did 
not  sit  at  GamaHel's  feet,  as  did  his  great  disciple 
Paul.  He  never  saw  the  inside  of  a  college  for  the 
purpose  of  study.  Neither  was  he  ever  apprenticed 
to  any  of  the  famous  rabbis.     **How  knoweth  this 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS'  LIFE 


man  letters,  having  never  learned  '*  (John  vii.  15.) 
What  education  he  received  came  through  his 
mother,  the  parochial  school,  the  synagogue,  and 
what  he  read  and  saw  for  himself.  Being  a  woman 
of  a  sweet,  modest,  unselfish  spirit,  very  devout,  and 
naturally  talented,  and  believing  him  to  be  Israel's 
long-looked-for  Messiah,  his  mother  set  him  the 
noblest  example,  and  gave  him  the  best  instruction 
she  could.  Living  abidingly  in  the  presence  and 
fellowship  of  God,  she  would  lay  much  stress  on 
prayer.  Believing  the  scriptures  to  be  the  word  of 
God,  she  would  early  teach  him  their  meaning. 
Many  a  pleasant  evening  they  spent  together,  he 
eager  to  learn,  standing  by  her  side  while  she  was 
reading  to  him  and  teUing  him  bible  stories. 

The  synagogue  schools  were  quite  general. 
Schurer  thinks  that  there  were  probably  such  schools 
in  nearly  every  town  in  Palestine,  where  boys  from 
six  years  and  upward  could  be  sent  for  the  study  of 
the  scriptures.  (Schurer  2,  2,  49.)  The  emphasis 
in  this  study  was  laid  on  the  law  of  Moses.  Accord- 
ing to  Josephus,  Moses  had  ordained  that  boys 
should  learn  the  most  important  laws.^  (Jos.  Ant. 
4,  8,  12.)  The  thoroughness  with  which  this  was 
sometimes  done  is  vouched  for  by  this  author  when 

»  "He  commanded  us  to  instruct  children  in  the  elements  of 
knowledge  [reading  and  writing],  to  teach  them  to  walk  according  to 
the  laws,  and  to  know  the  deeds  of  their  forefathers.  The  latter  that 
they  might  imitate  them,  the  former  that  growing  up  with  the  laws  they 
might  not  transgress  them,  nor  have  the  excuse  of  ignorance."  (Apion 
2,  26.) 


132  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

he  says  that  boys  could  answer  queries  concerning 
the  law  more  easily  than  their  name  (Apion  ii.  19), 
and  that  when  he  was  only  fourteen  years  old  the 
leading  men  of  the  nation  came  to  him  to  learn  it. 
(Vita  2.)  Philo  speaks  in  a  similar  vein,  and  though 
both  he  and  Josephus  lived  somewhat  later  than 
Jesus,  there  is  httle  doubt  but  what  was  true  of  the 
slow-moving  Orient  in  the  days  of  Josephus  and 
Philo  was  also  true  a  generation  earlier. 

Jesus*  knowledge  of  the  scripture  displayed  itself 
early  and  was  thorough.  Luke  tells  us  an  event 
that  happened  when  Jesus  was  twelve  years  old.  In 
company  with  his  parents  and  others  he  had  gone  to 
Jerusalem.  In  some  way  he  was  parted  from  them 
and  lost,  and  when  they  found  him  after  a  three 
days'  search,  he  was  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  doc- 
tors in  the  temple,  listening  to  their  teaching  and 
astonishing  them  all  by  his  wisdom.    (Luke  ii.  47.) 

Outside  of  the  parochial  school  he  had  so  far  as 
we  know  no  systematic  instruction.  Nor  did  he 
have  the  advantage  of  a  well-stocked  library.  Books 
were  few,  and  in  a  small  place  like  Nazareth  there 
was  no  hbrary.  Periodicals  and  papers  were  wholly 
unknown.  Probably  the  only  bock  he  had  was  the 
bible.  He  read  this  in  both  the  original  Hebrew 
and  in  its  Greek  translation.  This  is  brought  out 
by  his  recorded  quotations  from  it.  His  grasp  on 
its  underlying  principles  was  very  profound,  far  sur- 
passing that  of  the  learned  scholars  of  the  schools. 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS'   LIFE  I33 

The  disquisitions  in  the  synagogue  would  not 
assist  him  much.  The  synagogues  are  defined  by  Philo 
as  houses  of  instruction,  inwhich  the  native  philosophy 
was  studied  and  every  kind  of  virtue  taught.  (Life 
of  Moses  3,  27.)  Judging  from  the  Mishna,  the 
philosophy  was  valueless,  and  the  gospels  give  us  a 
poor  opinion  of  the  virtues.  The  service  was  made 
up  of  the  reading  of  a  passage  from  the  scriptures, 
on  which  then  a  lecture  or  a  sermon  was  based. 
(Schurer,  2,  2,  82.)  Though  the  services  were 
hollow,  Jesus  was  wont  to  attend  them.  His 
parents  being  adherents  of  the  Pharisees,  he  prob- 
ably attended  a  synagogue  of  the  pharisaic  order. ^ 

Outside  of  that,  his  books  were  nature  and  men. 
And  he  knew  both.  His  language  teems  with  fig- 
ures drawn  from  nature.  It  tells  of  birds,  lilies, 
grass,  grain,  sowing,  reaping,  vine  and  olive  cul- 
ture, of  mustard,  tares,  leaven,  sheep,  a  shepherd, 
the  growth  of  seed  and  different  kinds  of  soil.  Cer- 
tainly eighteen,  probably  twenty-nine,  of  the  thirty- 
three  recorded  parables  are  drawn  from  nature  or  life 
in  the  country.  And  no  man  needed  to  tell  him  of 
men,  for  he  knew  what  was  in  men.  (John  ii.  24, 
25.)  The  people  whom  he  met  in  his  youth  were 
unsophisticated.     No  social  conventionahties  sepa- 

^  There  were  only  two  other  religious  parties  with  which  they 
could  have  sympathized,  the  Sadducees  and  the  Essenes;  but  that 
they  were  not  Sadducees  is  evidenced  from  their  openness  to  intima- 
tions by  visions  and  dreams,  at  which  the  Sadducees  laughed  (Acts 
xxiii.  8);  and  that  they  were  not  Essene  is  shown  by  their  bringing  a 
bloody  sacrifice  at  the  time  of  Jesus'  presentation,  a  thing  which  the 
Essenes  abhorred.    (Luke  ii.  24.) 


134  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

rate  men  from  men  in  the  country  as  is  the  case  in 
the  city.  Nature  Hes  barer  to  the  observant  eye, 
and  opportunities  for  studying  it  are  better. 

The  men  he  chose  to  mingle  with  were  generally 
poor.  Though  he  was  the  son  of  David  and  greater 
than  David,  there  were  no  princelings  among  his 
associates,  neither  members  of  the  Sanhedrin  nor  the 
Herodian  house.  Who  his'  friends  were  in  his  boy- 
hood we  know  not,  but  probably  men  of  the  ranks 
from  whom  he  chose  his  disciples.  He  fellowshiped 
with  laborers.  Several  of  the  disciples  were  fisher- 
men— at  least  six  of  them — (John  xxi.  2),  and  the 
others  were  probably  mechanics  and  peasants.  One 
was  a  publican.  To  these  he  intrusted  the  work  of 
carrying  on  his  kingdom. 

That  he  was  neatly  dressed,  wore  the  garments 
of  a  gentleman — a  seamless  coat  which  was  deco- 
rated with  tassels  (Matt.  ix.  20) — and  mingled  in 
good  society,  does  not  deny  the  poverty  of  his  boy- 
hood and  youth,  and  the  general  poverty  of  his  com- 
panions and  followers. 

Now,  what  is  the  meaning  of  this.?  Has  it  any 
meaning  of  a  social  nature?  Remember  he  had  his 
choice.  He  could  take  up  his  position  wherever  he 
wished.  He  could  have  chosen  a  wealthy  woman 
for  his  mother,  the  capital  for  his  birthplace,  ease 
for  his  boyhood  and  youth,  capitalists  for  his  com- 
panions, and  noblemen  for  disciples.  But  he  chose 
the  opposite.     He  chose  to  pass  by  the  capital,  the 


TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS'  LIFE  135 

palace,  and  the  home  of  the  mighty,  and  take  up  his 
abode  with  the  humble,  He  the  heir  of  David  and  the 
king  of  the  universe.  What  prompted  him  to  do 
it?  Was  it  to  move  our  hearts  to  good  will  at  the 
sight  of  his  sacrifice?  His  death  at  Calvary  is  far 
more  apt  to  do  that.  Was  it  to  show  the  poor  that 
he  was  their  friend?  But  this  he  did  by  other  acts 
effectively.  And  why  not  be  rich  and  show  the  rich 
that  he  was  their  friend?  Do  they  not  need  him? 
Are  they  not  tempted  and  burdened?  But  it  is  said 
that  by  being  poor  he  came  more  nearly  being  like 
the  majority  of  men,  as  the  majority  of  men  are 
poor.  Was  it,  then,  not  so  much  to  be  like  the 
poor,  as  to  be  like  the  majority?  If  so  his  being 
born  poor  has  in  itself  no  lesson,  for  had  the  major- 
ity of  men  been  rich,  he  would  have  been  born  rich. 

It  does  not  seem  that  the  significance  of  his  lowly 
birth  is  thus  explained.  Jesus  had  in  all  things  the 
welfare  of  the  inner  life  in  view.  It  seems  far  more 
reasonable  to  believe  that  in  choosing  a  humble, 
pious  mother,  a  modest  home  in  intimate  touch  with 
nature,  hard  work,  and  what  the  world  calls  cramped 
advantages,  he  intended  to  teach  that  under  such 
conditions  the  spiritual  part  of  man  receives  its  best 
development. 

Is  it  not  a  fact  that  this  is  true?  Have  not 
nearly  all  the  world's  great  men  thus  developed? 
Which  of  them  developed  amid  luxury?  Wesley, 
Lincoln,  Franklin,  Livingstone,  Booker  Washington, 


136  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Michael  Angelo,  Agassiz,  Handel,  Bunyan,  Booth, 
whence  came  they?  From  the  ranks  of  the  toilers. 
From  little,  humble  cottages,  from  the  country. 
*'It  is  not  from  the  sons  of  the  millionaire  or  the 
noble  that  the  world  receives  its  teachers,  its 
martyrs,  its  inventors,  its  poets,  or  even  its  men  of 
affairs.  We  can  scarcely  read  one  among  the  few 
immortals  that  were  not  born  to  die,  or  who  has 
rendered  exceptional  service  to  our  race,  who  had 
not  the  advantage  of  being  cradled,  nursed,  and 
reared  in  the  stimulating  school  of  poverty.*' 

And  is  it  not  also  true  that  men  do  not  believe 
this?  Men  fear  hardships  for  their  children.  They 
strive  to  leave  them  an  ample  competency.  They 
buy  them  books  and  pictures,  seek  to  send  them 
through  college,  and  if  possible,  abroad.  They  en- 
deavor to  give  them  all  the  advantages  that  money 
can  buy.  Such  men's  attention  should  be  called  to 
the  example  of  Jesus.  **Stop  this  luxury,"  it 
cries;  **it  injures  your  children's  character.  It 
hurts  their  manhood  and  womanhood.  It  makes 
them  flabby  and  dependent,  like  potted  plants,  which 
cannot  support  themselves.  Make  them  win  their 
own  spurs,  and  shift  for  themselves." 

It  was  President  Garfield's  doctrine  that  **The 
richest  heritage  a  young  man  can  be  bom  to  is  pov- 
erty." To  teach  that  very  doctrine,  Jesus  chose  the 
mother  he  did,  the  modest  home  in  the  country,  hard 
work,  what  we  call  cramped  advantages,  and  poverty. 


THE     TEACHINGS     OF     JESUS     CON- 
CERNING  THE    POSSESSION 
OF   PROPERTY 


**He  that  is  faithful  in  a  very  little  is  faithful  also  in 
much;  and  he  that  is  unrighteous  in  a  very  little  is  unright- 
eous also  in  much.  If,  therefore,  you  have  not  been  faithful 
in  the  unrighteous  mammon,  who  will  commit  to  your  trust 
the  true  riches?  And  if  you  have  not  been  faithful  in  that 
which  is  another's,  who  will  give  you  that  which  is  your 
own?"     (Luke  xvi.  10-12.) 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   TEACHINGS   OF   JESUS   CONCERNING 
THE  POSSESSION   OF  PROPERTY 

On  no  subject  has  Jesus  been  less  understood 
than  on  that  of  the  possession  of  property.  One  is 
distressed  to  read  how  widely  his  interpreters  vary. 
A  German  workman  who  studied  Jesus'  teachings 
declares,  **  Christ  was  hated  and  persecuted  as  the 
modern  socialist,  and  if  he  had  lived  to-day,  he 
would,  no  doubt,  be  one  of  us."  (Quoted  by  Pea- 
body,  New  World,  June  3,  p.  324.)  Naumann  calls 
him  **A  man  of  the  people,"  **The  enemy  of 
wealth,"  **A  radical  enemy  of  capital."  (The 
same.)  Renan  calls  Jesus  an  **Ebionite";  that  is, 
one  who  taught  that  only  the  poor  could  be  saved." 
(Life  of  Christ,  p.  170;  tr.  J.  H.  Allen.)  Nitti 
thinks  the  same.  ** Poverty,"  he  says,  ''was  an  in- 
dispensable condition  for  gaining  admission  to  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  (Nitti,  Catholic  Socialism, 
1895,  p.  64.)  So  did  the  various  mendicant  sects  of 
the  Middle  Ages.  Others  have  called  Jesus  a  com- 
munist, as  the  Fratercelli,  the  Beghards,  the  Bon- 
hommes,  and  the  Humihati.  Among  these  are  also 
the  Doukhabors  of  modern  Russia.  A  sympathetic 
writer  says  of  them:  "Quite  naturally,  a  simple 
139 


140  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

peasant  folk,  who  take  religion  seriously,  as  some- 
thing important  and  intimately  linked  to  daily  life 
and  conduct,  find  themselves  obliged  either  to  look 
out  for  a  religion  which  shall  suit  them  better  than 
that  of  Christ,  or  to  bring  their  life  more  nearly  into 
conformity  with  his  teachings.  What,  then,  are  the 
Doukhabors  doing  towards  carrying  out  Christ's 
economic  teachings?  They  disapprove  of  individu- 
alistic property  and  aim  at  communism."  (The 
Outlook,  Dec.  10,  1898,  p.  915.)  Others,  and 
these  constitute  the  great  bulk  of  interpreters,  claim 
that  Jesus  never  contemplated  an  economic  revolu- 
tion, and  that  the  present  arrangements,  with  certain 
improvements,  meet  his  approval.  They  believe 
that  Jesus  was  an  individualist,  and  that  with  such 
isms  as  communism  and  socialism  he  had  no  sym- 
pathy. 

Such  divergent  views  among  able  interpreters 
suggest  that  the  subject  is  very  difficult.  This  is 
not  so,  however.  The  subject  is  not  difficult.  If 
one  will  calmly  and  carefully  examine  all  the  scat- 
tered sayings  that  bear  upon  it,  he  may  get,  at  no 
great  cost,  a  very  clear  idea  as  to  just  what  Jesus 
taught. 

All  the  sayings  of  Jesus  which  those  adduce,  who 
claim  that  he  was  opposed  to  wealth,  have  only  a 
limited  bearing  and  cannot  be  generally  applied. 

The  most  important  one  is  the  conversation  of 
Jesus  with  the  rich  young  man.     '*And  as  he  was 


THE   POSSESSION  OF  PROPERTY       141 

going  forth  into  the  way,  there  ran  one  to  him,  and 
kneeled  to  him,  and  asked  him,  Good  Master,  what 
shall  I  do  that  I  may  inherit  eternal  hfe?  And 
Jesus  said  unto  him,  Why  callest  thou  me  good? 
None  is  good,  save  one,  even  God.  Thou  knowest 
the  commandments — Do  not  commit  adultery,  Do 
not  kill.  Do  not  steal,  Do  not  bear  false  witness,  Do 
not  defraud,  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother.' 
And  he  said  unto  him.  Master,  all  these  things  have 
I  observed  from  my  youth.  And  Jesus  looking 
upon  him  loved  him,  and  said  unto  him.  One  thing 
thou  lackest;  go,  sell  whatsoever  thou  hast,  and  give 
to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasures  in  heaven; 
and  come,  follow  me."  (Mark  x.  17-22;  Matt, 
xix.  16-22;  Luke,  xviii.  18-22.) 

That  this  was  a  special  demand,  made  only  of 
this  youth,  is  seen  from  the  amazement  of  the  dis- 
ciples at  what  Jesus  said  in  comment  on  his  riches. 
(Mark  x.  24.)  Had  Jesus  been  in  the  habit  of  ask- 
ing the  abandonment  of  riches  of  every  believer,  the 
disciples,  instead  of  being  amazed  at  him  here,  would 
have  bowed  their  assent,  and  it  is  almost  certain  that 
the  young  man  would  have  known  of  it,  as  the  inci- 
dent occurred  during  the  latter  days  of  Jesus'  minis- 
try. The  case  is  simply  this :  Jesus  loved  this  young 
man  (Mark  x.  21),  and  hoped  to  make  of  him  a  very 
useful  servant.  He  knew  of  the  importance  which 
he  attached  to  riches.  He  trusted  in  his  riches 
(Mark  x.  24),  and  as  with  Jesus  the  service  of  two 


142  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

masters  is  impossible,  he  bade  him  part  with  one. 
It  was  heroic  treatment;  but  he  in  whose  eye  the 
loss  of  the  most  precious  member  of  the  body  is 
preferable  to  the  failure  of  the  best  development  of 
the  spirit  Hfe,  who  says,  If  thy  hand  cause  thee  to 
stumble  cut  it  off,  if  thy  foot  cause  thee  to  stumble, 
cut  it  off,  if  thine  eye  cause  thee  to  stumble,  pluck 
it  out,  did  not  hesitate  to  ask  the  same  in  reference 
to  earthly  possessions.     (Mark  ix.  43-47.) 

*'It  is  a  situation  famihar  in  modern  life.  A 
young  man,  well  born  and  well  bred,  winsome  and 
gallant,  is  withheld  from  the  effective  use  of  his  life 
by  the  weight  of  his  possessions.  If  he  could  only 
forget  that  he  was  rich  and  give  himself  to  strenuous 
work  he  might  do  gallant  service.  If  some  dra- 
matic summons,  like  that  of  an  actual  war,  is  heard 
by  him,  the  follies  of  his  luxury  and  self-indulgence 
drop  away  from  him,  and  he  becomes  the  most  endur- 
ing and  daring  of  soldiers.  Meantime,  however, 
here  he  is,  with  hardly  a  fair  chance  for  a  useful  life, 
turning  play  into  work,  and  sinking  into  a  false  and 
foolish  estimate  of  life  and  happiness.  What  hope 
is  there  for  such  a  young  man  except  through  some 
radical  change,  curative  though  cruel,  like  the  sur- 
geon's knife?  It  was  thus  that  Jesus,  loving  the 
young  ruler,  demanded  much  of  him;  and  one  can 
imagine  the  loving  pity  with  which  Jesus,  when  the 
young  man  shrank  from  the  only  operation  which 
could  save  him,  looked  around  about  and  saith  unto 


THE   POSSESSION  OF   PROPERTY        HS 

his  disciples,  '*How  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  '*  (Professor 
Francis  G.  Peabody,  The  Teachings  of  Jesus 
Concerning  the  Rich,  The  New  World,  June,  1900, 

P-  339.) 

Another  important  passage  supposed  to  show 
hostility  to  property  is  found  in  the  gospel  of  Luke. 
"Now  there  went  with  him  great  multitudes;  and 
he  turned  and  said  unto  them,  'If  any  man  cometh 
unto  me,  and  hateth  not  his  own  father,  and  mother, 
and  wife,  and  children,  and  brethren,  and  sisters, 
yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple. 
Whosoever  doth  not  bear  his  own  cross,  and  come 
after  me,  cannot  be  my  disciple.  For  which  of  you, 
desiring  to  build  a  tower,  doth  not  first  sit  down, 
and  count  the  cost,  whether  he  have  wherewith  to 
complete  it?  ....  So  therefore,  whosoever  he  be 
of  you  that  renounceth  not  all  that  he  hath,  he  can- 
not be  my  disciple.'  '*  (Luke  xiv.  25-28,  33.) 
The  people  to  whom  he  said  this  were  great  multi- 
tudes. But  what  kind  of  multitudes?  They  were 
made  up  of  people  who  wholly  misapprehended  the 
nature  of  Christ's  work.  They  were  going  up  to 
Jerusalem  with  Jesus,  expecting  that  Jesus  would  be 
crowned  instead  of  crucified.  So,  hfting  up  his 
voice,  Jesus  told  them  that  going  with  him  would 
require  the  sacrifice  of  affection,  and  cost  them  pain- 
ful humihations,  and  excruciating  sufferings.  The 
language  is  startling,  but  is  just  such  as  was  needed 


144  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

to  shake  such  a  crowd  out  of  the  behef  that  going 
with  him  would  bring  them  glory. 

The  other  passages  urged  as  teaching  opposition 
to  property,  he  spoke  to  his  apostles.  **Fear  not, 
little  flock;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to 
give  you  the  kingdom.  Sell  that  ye  have,  and  give 
alms;  make  for  yourselves  purses  which  wax  not  old, 
a  treasure  in  the  heavens  that  faileth  not,  where  no 
thief  draweth  near,  neither  moth  destroyeth.  For 
where  your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be 
also."     (Luke  xii.  32-34.) 

It  is  unquestionably  true  that  Jesus  did  not  allow 
the  apostles  to  hold  property.  They  had  to  give  up 
everything.  They  were  to  be  always  with  him,  that 
he  might  send  them  forth  to  preach.  (Mark  iii.  14.) 
This  precluded  the  pursuit  of  their  ordinary  voca- 
tions. Entanglements  in  enterprises  would  interfere 
with  their  mission,  so  would  entanglements  in  riches. 

Being  always  with  him  he  organized  them  into  a 
brotherhood.  Judas  carried  the  purse.  The  organi- 
zation seems  to  have  been  of  a  communistic  nature. 
But  that  he  organized  the  twelve  into  a  brotherhood, 
and  allowed  them  no  wealth  is  no  proof  that  he 
would  not  allow  it  to  any  of.  his  followers.  In  fact, 
it  is  not  even  evidence.  The  evidence  is  all  the 
other  way.  We  know  that  some  of  his  followers 
had  means.  There  are  no  passages  anywhere  which 
show  that  they  held  it  against  his  will.  There  is  not 
a  verse  which  suggests  that,  outside  of  the  twelve, 


THE   POSSESSION  OF   PROPERTY        145 

he  was  in  favor  of  communism.  His  attitude  of 
indifference  to  the  Essenes,  who  were  communists, 
suggests  that  for  general  purposes,  communism  did 
not  have  his  approval. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  admitted  that  it 
does  not  follow — if  it  be  granted  that  Jesus  did  not 
approve  of  communism  in  his  day — that  he  would 
never  approve  of  it.  Jesus  moved  in  a  society  in 
which  private  property  was  the  rule,  and  he  recog- 
nized its  legitimacy,  but  he  did  nothing  more.  He 
did  not  say  to  his  disciples  that  private  property 
should  forever  maintain.  In  organizing  his  disciples 
into  a  communistic  society,  he  recognized  the 
legitimacy  of  communism  as  well. 

The  fact  is  simply  this :  Jesus  was  not  a  teacher 
of  economic  science.  To  pronounce  in  favor  of  one 
system  of  ownership  as  against  another  came  not 
within  his  sphere,  and  he  never  did  it.  Each  com- 
munity must  determine  for  itself  what  kind  of  an  in- 
dustrial arrangement  will  further  its  interests  best, 
and  whatever  system  will  do  this,  is  for  that  com- 
munity the  one  which  Jesus  desires  it  to  have. 

To  determine  the  teachings  of  Jesus  we  must  not 
forget  the  Old  Testament.  Its  teachings  are  in 
general  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  and  in  many  instances 
they  throw  much  light  on  Jesus'  meaning,  where  his 
view  is  only  partially  recorded.  ** Think  not,*'  he 
said,  **that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  proph- 
ets; I  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.     For  verily 


146  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away, 
one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  away  from 
the  law,  till  all  things  be  accomplished.  Whoever, 
therefore,  shall  break  one  of  these  least  command- 
ments, and  shall  teach  men  so,  shall  be  called  least 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  whosoever  shall  do 
and  teach  them,  he  shall  be  called  great  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."     (Matt.  v.  17-20.) 

It  is  only  when  laws  have  ceased  to  be  generally 
applicable  or  are  perverted  from  their  original  intent 
that  Jesus  sets  them  aside.  Such  was  the  case  with 
the  laws  respecting  oaths,  divorce,  and  revenge, 
referred  to  in  his  first  sermon.  (Deut.  xxiv.  1-4; 
Numbers,  xxx.  2;  Lev.  xix.  18;  Matt.  v.  21-24, 
31,  32,  33-37.)  They  had  outlived  their  usefulness. 
They  had  been  turned  from  their  purpose.  Enacted 
to  restrict  these  evils,  they  were  used  to  justify  them. 
Such  also  was  the  case  with  the  laws  respecting 
fasting,  clean  meats,  and  washings.  Their  purpose 
had  been  overlooked  and  was  lost,  and  the  reason 
for  their  existence  had  consequently  ceased.  With 
the  exception  of  these  laws,  and  such  as  are  typical, 
or  have  evidently  only  a  local  importance,  the  laws 
of  the  scriptures  had  his  cordial  approval. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment's teaching  concerning  property  is  that  God  is 
the  owner. 

"The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof; 
The  world  and  they  that  dwell  therein." 
— (Ps.  xxiv.  I.) 


THE   POSSESSION  OF  PROPERTY        147 

*T  will  take  no  bullock  out  of  thy  house, 
Nor  he-goats  out  of  thy  folds. 
For  every  beast  of  the  forest  is  mine. 
And  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills. 
I  know  all  the  fowls  of  the  mountains ; 
And  the  wild  beasts  of  the  field  are  mine. 
If  I  were  hungry,  I  would  not  tell  thee : 
For  the  world  is  mine,  and  the  fullness  thereof." 
— (Ps.  1.  9-12.     See  also  Job  xli.  Ii;  Deut.  x.  14.) 

This  truth  is  also  taught  in  the  allotment  of  land. 
God  was  the  owner,  and  men  acknowledged  this  by 
giving  one-tenth  of  its  produce  for  the  use  of  wor- 
ship.    This  might  have  been  called  rent. 

This  principle  of  the  divine  ownership  of  prop- 
erty was  also  fundamental  with  Jesus.  With  this  in 
mind,  the  parable  of  the  unjust  steward,  which  with- 
out it  is  so  obscure,  becomes  easily  intelligible. 
**He  that  is  faithful  in  very  little  is  faithful  also  in 
much:  and  he  that  is  unrighteous  in  a  very  little  is 
unrighteous  also  in  much.  If,  therefore,  ye  have 
not  been  faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mammon,  who 
will  commit  to  your  trust  the  true  riches?  And  if 
ye  have  not  been  faithful  m  that  which  is  another's, 
who  will  give  you  that  which  is  your  own?"  (Luke 
xvi.  10-12.) 

The  goods  we  have  (or  the  unrighteous  mammon) 
are  not  our  own,  but  are  the  goods  of  another,  of 
God.  Of  these  goods  we  are  the  stewards.  If  we 
faithfully  attend  to  this  stewardship,  we  are  to  be 
intrusted  with  the  true  riches,  with  heavenly  treas- 


148  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

ures — treasures  far  exceeding  in  value  the  best  treas- 
ures of  earth.  If  we  are  not  faithful  we  shall  obtain 
no  heavenly  treasures  at  all. 

Whatever  possessions  one  has,  are  as  many  as 
his  ability  warrants.  *'It  is  as  when  a  man,  going 
into  another  country,  called  his  own  servants  and 
delivered  unto  them  his  goods.  And  unto  one  he 
gave  five  talents,  to  another  two,  to  another  one;  to 
each  according  to  his  several  ability;  and  he  went 
on  his  journey."  (Matt.  xxv.  14,  15.)  To  inequal- 
ity in  the  possession  of  wealth  our  Saviour  had  no 
objection.  Inequality  in  earthly  goods  rests  upon 
inequality  in  capacity  for  managing  earthly  goods. 
In  the  ideal  place,  in  heaven,  inequality  will  main- 
tain. Some  are  there  to  sit  on  the  right  hand,  and 
some  on  the  left,  some  are  to  sit  on  thrones,  some 
are  to  have  authority  over  ten  cities  and  some  over 
five.  (Luke  xix.  18,  19.)  These  illustrations  are 
figures,  but  they  are  figures  that  teach  truths. 

Nor  did  Jesus  object  to  one  reasonably  enjoy- 
ing his  riches.  He  was  not  an  ascetic.  He  was 
far  from  what  men  like  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  and 
the  followers  of  St.  Anthony  of  Thebes  have  repre- 
sented him  to  have  been.  At  the  wedding  feast  in 
Cana  he  did  not  scold  the  happy  bridegroom  for 
treating  his  guests  on  wine  instead  of  on  water,  and 
save  the  cost  of  the  wine  for  the  use  of  the  Temple 
or  for  charity.  (John  ii.  i-ii.)  He  was  often 
present  at  feasts,  so  often  that  some  accused  him  of 


THE   POSSESSION  OF   PROPERTY       149 

wine  bibbing  and  gluttony.  (Matt.  xi.  19;  Luke 
vii.  34.)  The  somber,  austere  view  of  life  which 
deprecates  enjoyments,  and  forbids  the  use  of  money 
for  any  purpose  but  that  of  supplying  life's  barest 
necessities  is  not  of  Jesus.  At  Bethany  a  woman 
spent  on  one  ointment  three  hundred  denarii.  (Mark 
xiv.  3-9.)  And  Jesus  did  not  even  rebuke  that. 
This  was  left  for  Judas  to  do.  Jesus  defended  the 
woman.  (John  xii.  4.)  Music,  feasts,  splendors, 
flowers,  these  were  not  vanities  with  him  to  be 
avoided.  These  obtain  in  heaven  (Matt.  xxii.  1-14; 
XXV.  1-14),  and  what  is  just  in  heaven  cannot  be 
wrong  upon  the  earth.  There  are  higher  needs  of 
life  than  those  of  food  and  raiment.  **Man  cannot 
live  by  bread  alone.'*  To  furnish  examples  of 
beauty  and  provide  opportunity  for  rational  enjoy- 
ment is  as  much  a  duty,  where  one  is  able  to  do  it, 
as  to  give  money  to  charity. 

Respecting  this,  Professor  Peabody  writes:  *' Ex- 
penditures of  wealth  on  art,  on  education,  on  music, 
on  the  opening  of  the  sources  of  nature  to  the  weary 
life  of  cities,  on  the  emancipation  of  mankind  from 
commercial  standards,  and  the  provision  of  sug- 
gestive and  symbolic  ways  of  pleasure  is  not  only 
justified  through  its  elevating  and  educating  effect, 
but  rests  also  on  the  explicit  authority  of  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  not  always  better  to  spend  for 
such  ends  than  to  give  to  the  poor,  but  it  is  equally 
legitimate."    (The  New  World,  June,  1900,  p.  344.) 


150  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

If  he  was  not  opposed  to  a  rational  enjoyment  of 
wealth,  he  was  ineradicably  opposed  to  selfish  and 
indolent  indulgence.  With  lazy  people  he  had  no 
sympathy.  Neither  made  it  any  difference  if  they 
were  the  lazy  rich  or  the  lazy  poor. 

Dives  was  rich.  He  dressed  in  purple  and  he 
fared  sumptuously  every  day.  He  was  evidently  a 
non-producer.  He  made  no  endeavor  to  increase 
the  talents — the  money — intrusted  to  him,  through 
personal  exertion.  Daily  feasting  and  dressing  in 
purple  attire  made  labor  impossible.  For  this  non- 
producer  Jesus  had  only  the  torturing  flames  of  the 
gehenna  fires.     (Luke  xvi.  23.) 

For  the  bond-servant  who  was  too  indolent  to 
labor  he  has  the  outer  darkness:  *' there  shall  be 
weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. '*  (Matt.  xxv.  30.) 
For  the  master  of  the  household  who  squandered 
his  master's  property  by  eating  and  drinking  with 
the  drunkards,  he  had  a  similar  doom.  (Matt.  xxiv. 
48-5 1 .)  For  the  faithful  laborers,  the  faithful  stew- 
ards (Matt.  xxv.  21),  the  watchful  porter  (Matt, 
xxiv.  46),  and  the  scrupulous  servant  (Luke  xii.  37), 
he  had  the  highest  commendations. 

But  concerning  no  subject  relating  to  property  is 
there  so  much  misapprehension  as  concerning  giving. 
It  was  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament  that  the 
Israelites  should  give  one-tenth  of  all  that  they  pro- 
duced for  worship.  *'A11  the  tithe  of  the  land, 
whether  of  seed  of  the  land  or  of  the  fruit  of  the 


THE  POSSESSION  OF  PROPERTY       151 

tree,  is  the  Lords;  it  is  holy  unto  the  Lord."  (Lev. 
xxvii.  30.)  This  requirement  was  compHed  with  by 
at  least  a  part  of  the  Pharisees,  and  it  had  the  ap- 
proval of  Jesus.  (Matt,  xxiii.  23;  Luke  xi.  42; 
xviii.  12.)  It  is  objected  that  the  erection  of  this 
Old  Testament  command  of  tithing  into  an  absolute 
rule  for  Christians  to  obey  is  un-Christian.  Jesus, 
it  is  said,  loved  spontaneity  and  freedom  too  much 
to  tolerate  specific  rules.  He  dealt  with  principles, 
not  rules.  Grant  the  objection  all  the  force  it  has. 
Grant  that  Jesus  would  not  approve  the  erection  of 
the  command  to  tithe  into  an  absolute  rule,  to  the 
principle  upon  which  the  command  to  tithe  rested 
he  was  unalterably  loyal.  God  is  the  owner  of  all, 
and  we  must  recognize  it  by  stated  contributions. 
In  this  way  our  goods,  instead  of  being  religiously  in- 
jurious to  us,  become  a  bond  which  unite  us  to  God. 
Among  Christian  people,  even  among  the  reli- 
gious leaders,  God's  ownership  is  in  practice  very 
generally  denied.  When  a  minister  presents  a  need 
to  the  people,  religious  or  charitable,  local  or  foreign, 
he  does  not  present  it,  as  a  rule,  as  if  his  hearers' 
property  was  the  Lord's.  He  does  not  state  the 
need,  and  then  ask  the  people  to  confer  with  God 
and  see  if  he  desires  that  any  of  his  wealth  shall  be 
used  for  that  need.  The  minister  asks  for  a  contri- 
bution and  coaxes  the  people,  as  if  they  can  do  what 
they  please  with  their  money,  instead  of  laying  down 
God's  claims  as  contained  in  the  scriptures.     He 


152  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

appeals  for  aid,  while  God  asks  for  honor;  he  asks 
for  contributions,  while  God  demands  offerings;  he 
solicits  donations,  while  God  demands  tribute;  he 
calls  the  people  penurious,  if  they  will  not  give, 
while  God  will  likely  call  them  robbers. 

There  was  a  period  in  Israel's  history  when  the 
same  sin  was  committed.  God's  ownership  was  not 
acknowledged,  and  men  withheld  their  offerings. 
The  church  grew  poor  and  spiritual  life  declined. 
Men  spoke  of  God  as  father,  but  refused  him  honor, 
they  called  him  master,  but  paid  him  no  reverence. 
(Mai.  i.  6.)  And  morals  grew  lax.  Every  man  dealt 
treacherously  against  his  brother,  and  against  the 
wife  of  his  youth.     (Mai.  ii.  14.) 

At  this  stage  of  affairs  a  prophet  arose  and  cried, 
*'Will  a  man  rob  God?  Yet  ye  rob  me.  But  ye 
say,  Wherein  have  we  robbed  thee?  In  tithes  and 
offerings.  Ye  are  cursed  with  the  curse,  for  ye  rob 
me,  even  this  whole  nation.  Bring  ye  the  whole 
tithes  into  the  storehouse,  that  there  may  be  meat  in 
mine  house,  and  prove  me  now  herewith  sayeth  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  if  I  will  not  open  you  the  window  of 
heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall 
not  be  room  enough  to  receive  it."  (Mai.  iii.  8-10.) 
Might  it  not  be  that  the  awakening  to  righteousness, 
for  which  the  church  has  hoped  and  prayed  so  long, 
will  come  as  soon  as  God's  right  to  our  goods  is  rec- 
ognized, and  the  Christian  world  shakes  itself  free 
from  the  deadly  avarice  which  paralyzes  its  progress? 


THE   TEACHINGS    OF    JESUS    CON- 
CERNING   THE    WORSHIP 
OF   MAMMON 


"No  man  can  serve  two  masters;  for  either  he  will  hate 
the  one,  and  love  the  other;  or  else  he  will  hold  to  one  and 
despise  the  other.  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 
(Matt.  vi.  24,  25.) 

"And  Jesus  said  unto  his  disciples,  verily  I  say  unto 
you,  it  is  hard  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."    (Matt.  xix.  23.) 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  TEACHINGS   OF  JESUS    CONCERNING 
THE  WORSHIP  OF  MAMMON 

Another  topic  upon  which  Jesus  has  said  consid- 
erable is  the  worship  of  mammon.  There  are  a 
number  of  sayings  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 
which  from  their  position  in  a  sermon  intended  to 
set  forth  the  nature  of  the  Christian  society,  derive 
great  importance. 

The  first,  and  the  one  most  fundamental,  is  that 
money  as  a  power  is  unholy,  and  that  its  influence 
upon  earth  has  been  opposed  to  God.  Jesus  called 
it  mammon.  We  know  not  the  precise  meaning  of 
this  term  ''mammon,"  but  it  is  claimed  to  have  been 
the  name  of  a  Syrian  god  which  the  people  worshiped 
when  they  were  desirous  of  riches.  There  are  those 
who  deny  this  origin  of  the  term,  most  likely  cor- 
rectly; but  whatever  it  may  be,  Jesus  used  the  term 
mammon  as  the  name  of  a  god.  And  he  put  the 
worship  of  this  god  as  absolutely  opposed  to  the 
worship  of  the  true  God  "No  man  can  serve  two 
masters :  for  either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the 
other,  or  else  he  will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise 
the  other.  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  mammon." 
(Matt.  vi.  24.) 


156  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

In  another  part  of  the  gospel  where  money  is 
referred  to,  he  called  it  not  simply  mammon,  but 
unrighteous  mammon.  (Luke  xvi.  11.)  So  much 
unrighteousness  had  centered  about  its  use  and  so 
much  money  had  been  unrighteously  obtained  that 
the  very  metal  seemed  to  him  to  be  tainted. 

The  position  of  Jesus  was  this:  All  the  aspira- 
tions and  labors  of  men  had  one  of  two  objects: 
the  worship  of  God,  or  the  worship  of  wealth. 
In  the  case  of  many  men  the  attempt  was  made 
to  worship  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  ex- 
clusively, but  to  render  homage  to  both,  to  God 
perhaps  upon  the  sabbath,  and  to  mammon  the  rest 
of  the  days.  This  attempt  Jesus  claimed  was  abso- 
lutely impossible.  One  must  worship  the  one  or  the 
other,  Jehovah  or  mammon;  the  worship  of  the  two 
is  diametrically  opposed. 

By  this  declaration  of  the  absolute  opposition  of 
the  worship  of  mammon  to  the  worship  of  God, 
Jesus  branded  mammon  worship  as  thoroughly  sin- 
ful. No  other  sins,  not  even  hypocrisy  and  unbelief, 
against  which  he  said  so  much,  are  put  by  him  in 
such  a  direct  attitude  of  opposition  to  God.  Mam- 
mon is  unholy.  One  cannot  be  a  Christian  and 
idolize  riches. 

The  second  saying  regarding  it  is  his  advice,  or 
command,  not  to  gather  it,  but  gather  heavenly  treas- 
ures. "Lay  not  up  for  yourself  treasures  upon  the 
earth,   where   moth  and   rust   doth   consume,   and 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   MAMMON  157 

where  thieves  break  through  and  steal;  but  lay  up 
for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither 
moth  nor  rust  doth  consume,  and  where  thieves  do 
not  break  through  and  steal;  for  where  your  treas- 
ure is,  there  will  thy  heart  be  also."  (Matt.  vi. 
19-21.) 

The  words  used  are  very  drastic,  startling.  As 
they  read  they  absolutely  forbid  any  kind  of  accumu- 
lation. It  was  Jesus*  manner  to  be  startling.  Only 
thus  could  he  succeed  in  rousing  his  somnolent 
hearers  to  the  dangers  before  them.  Things  were 
with  them  as  they  are  now  with  us.  To  lay  up 
earthly  treasures,  secure  houses,  lands,  become  a 
capitaHst  or  merchant  prince,  was  the  aim  or  en- 
deavor of  most  of  the  people.  By  their  success  in 
this,  their  life's  success  was  judged.  Such  as  suc- 
ceeded were  feted  and  honored  (Luke  xiv.  12),  such 
as  failed  were  ignored.  This  worldly  spirit  had  even 
entered  the  synagogues.  If  there  came  in  one  who 
wore  fine  clothing  he  was  set  in  a  good  place,  if  he 
wore  a  shabby  garment  he  was  shoved  away  into  a 
comer.     (Jas.  ii.  3.) 

All  this  was  very  abhorrent  to  Jesus.  He  set  his 
face  against  it.  His  followers  should  not  live  that 
way.  Their  eyes  should  be  fixed,  and  their  energies 
bent  on  spiritual  riches,  on  building  up  their  charac- 
ters after  his  own  perfect  example.  And  he  gives 
us  his  word  that  a  society,  individual,  or  nation, 
which    lives    for    riches,    will    perish    spiritually. 


158  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

'* Where  thy  treasure  is  there  will  thy  heart  be 
also."  (Matt.  vi.  21.)  When  the  heart  is  on  the 
earth,  because  its  treasure  is  there,  it  will  grow  un- 
spiritual  and  earthly,  and  everything  within  it  that  is 
noble  and  grand  will  perish. 

But  are  earthly  treasures  not  needed?  Must 
men  not  eat,  drink,  be  clothed,  have  homes  and  com- 
forts.? Is  not  the  desire  to  lay  in  store  for  the  future 
a  noble  one?  Is  it  not  an  instinct  seen  even  in  in- 
sects like  ants,  and  can  an  instinct  be  sinful? 

Food,  clothing,  homes,  and  comforts  are 
needed.  To  provide  for  them  is  not  only  right  and 
proper,  but  is  a  duty.  The  sin  comes  in  when  men 
are  not  content  with  enough  and  become  impatient 
and  greedy  for  more.  Since  in  most  societies  men 
are  honored  as  they  are  wealthy,  the  temptation  to 
covet  more  than  one  needs  is  always  exceedingly 
strong. 

To  arm  against  this  Jesus  gives  three  weapons: 

First,  he  bids  us  temper  our  desire.  This  he  does 
by  implication  in  the  fourth  petition  of  the  Lord's 
prayer,  where  he  teaches  his  disciples  to  pray,  **Give 
us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  (Matt.  vi.  11.)  No 
person  hankering  after  the  delicacies  of  luxury,  or 
after  the  wealth  which  makes  these  possible,  can 
honestly  pray  that  prayer.  In  other  words,  he  bids 
us  live  plain,  simple,  sober,  contented,  trustful  lives, 
and  thus  by  limiting  our  desires  make  ourselves  free 
from  the  temptations  to  mammon  worship. 


THE   WORSHIP  OF   MAMMON  159 

Secondly,  he  bids  us  have  faith  in  the  Father  in 
heaven.  ** Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  be  not  anxious 
for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall 
drink;  nor  yet  for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on. 
Is  not  the  Hfe  more  than  the  food,  and  the  body 
than  the  raiment?  Behold  the  birds  of  the  heaven, 
that  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather 
into  bams;  and  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them. 
Are  not  ye  of  much  more  value  than  they?  And 
which  of  you  by  being  anxious  can  add  one  cubit 
unto  his  stature?  And  why  are  ye  anxious  concern- 
ing raiment?  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how 
they  grow;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin;  yet 
I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory 
was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  But  if  God  doth 
so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and 
to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not  much 
more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?  Be  not,  there- 
fore, anxious,  saying  What  shall  we  eat?  or  What 
shall  we  drink?  or  Wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed? 
For  after  all  these  things  do  the  Gentiles  seek;  for 
your  heavenly  Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of 
these  things.  But  seek  ye  first  his  kingdom  and  his 
righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you.  Be  not,  therefore,  anxious  for  the  mor- 
row; for  the  morrow  will  be  anxious  for  itself. 
Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof."  (Matt, 
vi.  25-34;  Cp.  Luke  xii.  22-31.) 

Jesus  never  worried  about  his  food.     When  he 


i6o  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

began  his  ministry  the  first  temptation  which  the 
tempter  tried  was  to  get  him  to  worry  about  his 
Hving.  He  should,  so  he  said,  use  his  supernal 
powers,  so  that  his  need  of  food  should  first  be  met. 
(Matt.  iv.  3.)  But  Jesus  never  doubted  God's  care. 
His  philosophy  of  hfe  was  this:  To  work  at  tasks, 
whatever  they  were,  which  were  in  accordance  with 
God's  will,  and  then  trust  God  for  support. 

And  this  he  enjoined  on  his  followers.  We  are 
to  do  God's  will.  God's  will  and  not  the  obtaining 
of  a  livelihood  is  to  be  the  motive  of  our  work,  what- 
ever that  work  may  be.  If  we  so  work,  the  Father 
will  provide.  Whatever  money  comes  to  us  in  the 
course  of  such  work,  we  must  receive  and  take  care 
of,  but  we  must  not  do  the  work  for  that  money. 
So  working  we  need  not  be  afraid  of  want  through 
sickness  or  age.  The  Father's  barns  are  ever  full, 
and  his  banks  never  fail,  and  he  will  never  send  one 
engaged  in  his  work  away  empty. 

Thirdly,  as  a  weapon  against  the  temptation  to 
worship  riches,  he  bids  us  put  the  need  of  the  soul 
above  that  of  the  body.  **But  seek  ye  first  his  king- 
dom and  his  righteousness."  (Matt.  vi.  33.)  This 
is  before  all,  and  all  his  teaching  having  reference 
to  wealth,  whether  plain  affirmations,  prohibitions, 
commands,  or  recommendations,  must  be  interpreted 
in  the  light  of  their  relation  to  the  kingdom,  or  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  men. 

These,  then,  are  the  principles  which  Jesus  laid 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   MAMMON  i6i 

down  in  view  of  men's  danger  to  become  worshipers 
of  mammon.  Mammon  is  unholy.  His  influence 
in  the  world  as  a  power  has  been  against  God.  Do 
not  gather  earthly  treasures,  rather  gather  heavenly 
treasures,  as  these  are  more  important.  To  make 
us  strong  against  the  temptation  to  greed,  he  bids 
us  temper  our  desires,  learn  to  live  simply,  and  trust 
God  to  provide  (which  he  assures  us  God  will  do  if 
we  will  faithfully  do  his  work)  and  to  always  put  the 
interest  of  the  soul  above  that  of  everything  else. 

In  other  parts  of  the  gospels  these  principles  of 
the  sermon  are  confirmed  and  emphasized.  The 
unholy  influence  of  money  is  set  forth  in  the  parable 
of  the  sower.  **The  deceitfulness  of  riches  chokes 
the  word  and  it  becometh  unfruitful.'*  (Matt,  xiii. 
22]  Mark  iv.  19;  Luke  viii.  14.)  The  possession 
of  wealth  is  here  declared  to  be  an  obstacle  to  the 
truth. 

A  more  striking  illustration  of  its  harmful  influ- 
ence is  found  in  the  case  of  the  rich  young  man.  In 
the  conversation  of  Jesus  with  this  youth,  the  anti- 
thesis between  the  power  of  wealth  and  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  direct.  It  was  the  young  man's  wealth 
that  barred  his  salvation.  The  incident  teaches 
clearly  that  the  possession  of  riches,  as  soon  as  they 
are  great  enough  to  be  really  noticeable,  are  an 
obstacle  in  the  path  that  leads  to  Hfe  eternal. 

The  comments  of  Jesus  on  the  conduct  of  this 
youth  are  still  more  striking.     **  Verily  I  say  unto 


i62  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

you,  it  is  hard  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven.  And  again  I  say  unto  you,  it  is 
easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  a  needle's  eye  than 
for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God.'* 
(Matt.  xix.  23,  24.) 

It  is  said  that  what  this  saying  states  was  only 
true  in  reference  to  that  time.  Jesus'  death  had 
been  determined  upon,  and  wealthy  people  would 
not  stake  their  all  upon  what  appeared  to  every  one 
to  be  a  hopelessly  lost  cause.  But  this  does  not 
interpret  Jesus  right.  In  Jesus'  estimation  it  was 
hard  at  any  time.  He  does  not  deny  the  possibility. 
If  it  was  impossible,  he  could  not  have  had  rich 
people  as  his  disciples,  which  he  certainly  had, 
although  in  a  very  small  number.  Whatever  the 
meaning  of  the  proverb  about  the  camel  passing 
through  the  eye  of  a  needle  might  be,  it  cannot 
mean  to  totally  bar  the  rich  from  entering  heaven. 
**With  God  all  things  are  possible." 

In  exactly  the  same  spirit  Jesus  pictures  the 
fatal  ending  of  a  selfish  capitalist:  **And  he  spake  a 
parable  unto  them,  saying,  The  ground  of  a  certain 
rich  man  brought  forth  plentifully;  and  he  thought 
within  himself,  saying,  What  shall  I  do,  because  I 
have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my  fruits.?  And  he 
said.  This  will  I  do;  I  will  pull  down  my  barns  and 
build  greater;  and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my  fruits 
and  my  goods.  And  I  will  say  to  my  soul.  Soul, 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  take 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   MAMMON  163 

thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry.  But  God  said 
unto  him,  Thou  foolish  one,  this  night  is  thy  soul 
required  of  thee;  and  the  things  which  thou  hast 
prepared,  whose  shall  they  be?'*  And  then  having 
told  the  story,  he  solemnly  adds:  *'So  is  he  that 
layeth  up  treasure  for  himself  and  is  not  rich  toward 
God."     (Luke  xii.  16-20.) 

Poor  old  fool,  giving  so  much  thought  to  caring 
for  earthly  possessions,  which  he  imagined  were  his 
own,  as  to  neglect  laying  up  treasures  in  heaven! 
His  fruits,  his  goods,  his  barns,  and  his  building 
enterprises  cost  him  his  soul. 

Lastly,  we  see  the  unholy  influence  of  money  as 
a  power,  in  his  charge  to  the  people,  when  a  man 
desired  his  assistance  in  getting  his  share  of  an  in- 
heritance. **Take  heed  and  keep  yourself  from  all 
acquisitiveness:  for  a  man's  Hfe  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth.^  " 
(Luke  xii.  15.)  It  is  as  fooHsh  as  dangerous.  So 
much  is  needed  for  one's  life,  when  one  has  enough 
of  that  he  should  be  satisfied,  what  he  has  more 
brings  no  blessing. 

If  men  have  not  understood  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
concerning  possessions,  that  concerning  mammon 
worship  has  not  been  beHeved.  Men  read  the  gos- 
pels and  speak  of  their  simple  beauty,  especially  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  but  either  they  do  not 

*  The  Greek  word  nXeove^ia,  which  signifies  a  desire  for  larger 
holdings,  is  best  translated  by  the  English  word  acquisitiveness. 


164  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

believe  that  Jesus  meant  what  he  said,  when  he 
spoke  of  mammon  worship,  or  they  consider  his 
guidance  in  matters  of  money  unsafe.  Else  why  is 
it  that  the  Christian  world  has  paid  so  little  attention 
to  these  teachings?  Actually  the  love  of  money  is 
more  marked  in  Christian  nations  than  where  the 
Saviour's  words  are  never  heard.  It  almost  seems 
that  the  more  Christian  a  nation  is,  the  more  fanati- 
cal a  large  number  of  its  people  are  in  the  worship 
of  mammon. 

When  Ian  Maclaren  published  his  '*  Impressions 
on  American  Life,"  shortly  after  he  had  visited 
several  of  our  states  a  few  years  ago,  he  said:  **The 
friendly  visitor  to  the  United  States,  who  is  proud 
of  her  achievements  and  delighted  by  her  bright- 
ness, stands  aghast  at  the  open  and  unabashed  front 
of  secularity.  It  seems  to  him  as  if  not  merely 
coarse  and  unlettered  men,  whose  souls  have  never 
been  touched,  either]  by  religion  or  by  culture,  but 
that  all  men,  with  a  few  delightful  exceptions,  bow 
the  knee  to  this  golden  calf,  and  do  it  homage. 
Nowhere  is  there  such  constant  and  straightforward 
talk  about  money,  nowhere  is  such  importance 
attached  to  the  amount  of  money  which  a  man  has 
acquired  or  possesses,  nowhere  is  it  taken  so  abso- 
lutely for  granted  that  the  object  of  a  man's  work  is 
to  obtain  money,  and  that  if  you  offer  him  money 
enough  he  will  be  willing  to  do  any  work  which  is 
not  illegal;  that,   in  short,  the  motive  power  with 


THE  WORSHIP  OF  MAMMON  165 

almost  every  man  is  his  wages.  One  is  struck,  not 
so  much  by  what  is  said  in  plain  words  (although  a 
dollar  is  a  monotonous  refrain  in  conversation),  as 
by  what  is  implied,  and  what  is  impHed  is  this:  that 
if  you  know  the  proper  sum,  any  man  can  be  in- 
duced to  do  what  you  want,  even  though  his  health, 
and  his  rest,  and  his  family,  and  his  principles, 
stand  in  the  way."  (Outlook,  Vol.  LXIII. 
p.  117.) 

The  only  answer  I  have  seen  to  this  is  that  Eng- 
land is  just  as  bad  as  America.  It  probably  is,  which 
makes  the  matter  just  that  much  worse.  It  seems 
to  be  the  ruling  passion  in  all  the  leading  countries. 
Had  our  Saviour  said.  How  hardly  shall  they  that  are 
poor,  instead  of  **How  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches,  enter  the  kingdom  of  God, ' '  the  passion  for 
money  throughout  the  Christian  world  could  not  well 
be  stronger.  **The  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all 
kinds  of  evils."  (i  Tim.  vi.  10.)  The  oppression 
of  the  feeble  races,  the  indifference  to  fair  dealings 
with  them  on  the  part  of  the  so-called  civiHzed,  war, 
the  "madness  of  anarchy,  the  brutahty  of  trusts, 
drink,  gambling,  impurity,  political  corruption,  un- 
belief, domestic  infidelity,  all  grow  on  its  stem. 
Says  Lyman  Abbott:  "The  sin  that  is  nearest  the 
root  of  our  social  disorder  and  unrest  to-day  is  the 
eminently  respectable  and  deadly  sin  of  covetousness, 
tainting  the  life  of  the  family  and  the  church,  as 
well  as  of  the  state;  the  acquisitiveness  whose  sole 


l66  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

concern  is  making  money,  and  growing  fat  on  what 
should  be  shared  with  others.  Intemperance  and 
licentiousness  are  more  disgusting,  but  covetous- 
ness,  which  often  prompts  them  for  gain,  dwarfs 
them  both  in  the  social  detriment  it  works."  (Out- 
look, Vol.  LXIII.  p.  149.) 

It  is  love  of  money  that  is  emptying  our  churches. 
Men  who  have  accumulated  a  great  deal  more  money 
than  fhey  will  ever  need,  absent  themselves  from 
worship  because  they  are  too  tired  from  their  en- 
deavors to  get  still  more.  Love  of  money  is  injur- 
ing our  homes.  Eager  for  money  our  women  enter 
the  industrial  arena  with  men,  home  life  is  more  and 
more  going  out  of  vogue,  and  when  it  is  entered 
upon,  the  choice  of  a  husband  or  wife  is  frequently 
dictated  as  much  by  money  as  by  affection. 

Love  of  money  is  destroying  faith.  It  develops 
the  keenest  industrial  competition.  Amid  the  stress 
of  this,  men  do  and  say  what  cannot  bear  the  light. 
Thus  suspicion  is  engendered,  and  faith  in  man  is 
weakened,  the  power  of  faith  declines  through  lack 
of  practice,  and  unbelief  follows.  For  when  faith  in 
man  is  lost,  faith  in  God  is  impossible. 

Love  of  money  degrades  our  people.  It  creates 
and  maintains  the  dram-shops  and  the  dives,  through 
which  men  of  keen  intelligence  and  great  moral  pos- 
sibilities are  often  reduced  to  a  level  as  low  as  the 
brutes.  Men  will  steal,  rob,  deceive,  oppress, 
default,  sacrifice  the  welfare  of  wife,  children,  and 


THE  WORSHIP  OF   MAMMON  167 

friends;  break  any  of  God's  commandments — do 
anything  for  money. 

Nor  is  the  love  of  money  likely  to  grow  less. 
Year  by  year  extravagance  increases,  and  men's 
needs  grow  larger.  The  larger  they  grow,  the  more 
will  people  stand  in  need  of  money,  and  the  greater 
its  influence  on  the  hearts  of  men  will  become. 

The  love  of  money  is  seen  in  our  holiest  places. 
It  is  seen  in  our  churches.  It  is  seen  in  our  colleges 
and  universities,  and  with  some  of  them  the  money 
question  is  paramount.  Their  presidents  are  more 
and  more  becoming  financial  secretaries,  and  are 
judged  by  the  endowments  they  raise.  The  devel- 
opment of  the  money-making  power  in  the  student 
gets  more  and  more  attention,  while  attempts  to 
mold  the  character  are — at  least  in  some  schools — 
less  direct,  and  are  in  some  entirely  disavowed. 

"If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  man 
And  only  a  man,  I  say" 

it  may  not  matter  much  that  people  ignore  what  he 
says  of  mammon  worship.  If  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a 
man,  but  God's  own  son,  then  the  setting  asiae  of 
his  teaching  concerning  mammon  is  serious. 


THE     TEACHINGS     OF     JESUS     CON- 
CERNING  THE   ACCUMULATION 
AND   USE    OF    RICHES 


**Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world ;  for  I 
was  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye 
gave  me  drink;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  naked, 
and  ye  clothed  me ;  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me ;  I  was 
in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me '' 

"Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these,  my  brethren, 
even  these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  me."     (Matt.  xxv.  34-36,  40.) 


CHAPTER    XI 

THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS  CONCERNING  THE 
ACCUMULATION  AND  USE  OF  RICHES 

Another  topic  upon  which  Jesus  has  said  a  great 
deal  is  how  money  should  be  accumulated  and  used. 

Jesus  was  a  great  friend  of  the  unfortunate  and 
the  fallen.  It  mattered  not  what  one's  misfortune 
was,  or  how  it  was  occasioned,  Jesus  gave  help  to 
all  who  sought  it.  He  gave  the  blind  their  sight, 
healed  lepers,  cured  the  sick,  restored  the  demoniacs 
to  sanity,  and  fed  the  hungry  with  bread.  They 
found  him  eating  with  publicans  and  scorned  him  for 
it,  and  he  replied,  "They  that  are  whole  have  no 
need  of  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick."  (Mark 
ii.  1 6.)  They  saw  him  enter  the  home  of  Zaccheus, 
and  they  murmured  and  said,  ' '  He  is  gone  in  to  lodge 
with  a  man  that  is  a  sinner."  And  he  answered, 
*'The  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost."     (Luke  xix   7,  ii.) 

This  same  friendship  for  that  class  Jesus  asks  of 
those  who  become  his  disciples.  *' Follow  me,"  he 
says,  ''as  the  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I 
you."  (John  xx.  21.)  Espouse  my  cause,  the 
cause  of  the  unfortunates,  seek  to  recover  the  lost  ; 
endeavor  to  make  the  unrespectable  respectable, 
171 


172  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

those  not  fit  to  survive  fit.  Strive  to  secure  for  all 
men  the  opportunities  of  welfare — culture,  health, 
knowledge,  and  character.  Though  able  to  march 
in  the  front  rank  of  society,  take  your  place  in  the 
rear  ranks  and  help  the  stragglers  along. 
■^  These  facts  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  the  accumu- 
lation and  use  of  our  riches.  It  cannot  be  that  we 
may  sacrifice  the  interest  of  the  downtrodden  in  the 
accumulation  of  wealth,  and  further  them  in  our 
other  activities.  The  bitterness  with  which  Jesus 
denounced  the  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  for  their 
dishonest  accumulations  is  familiar.  Nor  can  it  be 
that  we  must  pray  and  speak  for  one  thing,  and 
having  money,  use  it  for  another  thing.  If  we  must 
use  our  talents  for  redeeming  men,  then  our  money, 
which  forms  a  part  of  our  talents,  must  be  used  for 
that  purpose.  In  all  our  activities  the  welfare  of 
men  must  be  in  our  mind,  in  our  financial  activities 
as  well  as  in  those  which  are  supposed  to  be  more 
directly  religious. 

Concerning  the  methods  for  handUng  our  money, 
our  Saviour  has  said  little.  It  did  not  come  within 
his  sphere,  nor  is  it  probable  that  specific  directions 
as  to  methods  which  would  have  suited  his  day 
would  suit  us.  Each  age  has  its  own  problems  and 
must  meet  them  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  love. 

There  are  three  principles  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  that  relate  to  the  accumulation  and  use  of 
money.     The  first   forbids  stubborn  insistence  on 


ACCUMULATION  OF  RICHES  i73 

rights;  the  second  acting  on  the  principle  that  busi- 
ness is  business,  and  that  generosity  has  no  place  in 
the  business  worid;  and  the  third  enjoins  benefi- 
cence. The  first  and  second  principle  will  be  dis- 
cussed together,  they  being  so^  closely  related. 

The  first  we  find  in  Matthew's  account  of  the 
sermon:  **Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  An  eye 
for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth :  But  I  say  unto 
you.  Resist  not  him  that  is  evil;  but  whosoever 
smitest  thee  on  thy  right  cheek  turn  to  him  the  other 
also.  And  if  a  man  would  go  to  law  with  thee  and 
take  away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also. 
And  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  one  mile,  go 
with  him  twain.  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and 
from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou 
away."     (Matt.  v.  38-42.) 

The  second  saying  is  found  in  Luke's  account. 
"And  if  ye  lend  to  them  of  whom  ye  hope  to  re- 
ceive, what  thank  have  ye?  Even  sinners  lend  to 
sinners  to  receive  again  as  much.  But  love  your 
enemies,  and  do  them  good,  and  lend,  never  despair- 
ing; and  your  reward  shall  be  great,  and  ye  shall  be 
sons  of  the  Most  High;  for  he  is  kind  toward  the 
unthankful  and  evil.  Be  ye  merciful,  even  as  your 
Father  is  merciful."     (Luke  vi.  34-36.) 

Both  these  sayings  have  occasioned  a  vast 
amount  of  perplexity.  Shall  we  erect  them  into 
rules  to  be  literally  obeyed,  or  shall  we  look  upon 
them  as  setting  forth  great  principles?     If  we  do  the 


174  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

former,  we  involve  ourselves  in  almost  hopeless 
difficulties. 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  .fact  that  these  sayings 
are  found  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  In  that 
sermon  Jesus  Christ  rebukes  the  Pharisees  for  failing 
to  grasp  the  principles  of  the  scriptures  and  for 
erecting  statements  holding  principles  into  rules 
which  they  literally  obeyed.  If  we  take  these  say- 
ings of  Jesus  as  rules,  we  assume  that  he  gave  rules 
in  the  midst  of  a  discourse  in  which  he  discouraged 
rules.  This  is  inconceivable.  The  Doukhabors 
and  others  who  erect  them  into  rules  which  they 
literally  obey  do  with  the  words  of  Jesus  just  what 
the  Pharisees  did  with  the  Old  Testament,  and  what 
Jesus  rebuked. 

Moreover,  as  rules,  these  sayings  are  wholly  im- 
practical, and  are  absolutely  unjust  and  unchristian? 
Christ  always  had,  and  wills  that  we  shall  have,  the 
interests  of  the  needy  at  heart,  and  certainly  it  is 
not  to  the  interest  of  a  needy  man  to  give  him  what- 
ever he  asks.  The  poor  must  often  be  denied  in 
their  own  interest.  Nor  is  it  to  the  interest  of 
people's  welfare  for  one  to  loan  to  every  one  what- 
ever is  asked  for.  Should  a  business  man  loan 
money  to  rivals  without  requiring  interest,  or  should 
he  give  his  surplus  money  to  a  competitor  who 
asked  for  it,  when  there  is  no  prospect  whatever 
that  even  the  principal  will  be  returned  to  him,  his 
business  would  greatly  suffer;  and  should  several 


ACCUMULATION  OF  RICHES  175 

business  men  do  this,  in  a  strongly  Christian  com- 
munity, the  interest  of  the  pubHc  would  suffer. 

Could  these  loans  be  understood  to  refer  to 
friendly  loans,  made  to  an  unfortunate  man  to  tide 
him  over  a  temporary  difficulty,  it  would  occasion  no 
difficulty  to  take  the  sayings  of  Jesus  literally.  No 
doubt  it  is  Christian  to  make  such  friendly  loans, 
but  it  is  not  commanded  here.  The  verb  davsi^u) 
(daneizo)  makes  this  plain.  This  word  is  always 
used  for  business  loans,  loans  on  interest,  while  for 
friendly  loans  the  verb  xtxprjfit  (kichremi)  is  em- 
ployed. (J.  H.  Thayer.  Greek-English  Lexicon 
on  the  N.  T.,  p.  125.)  In  addition  to  this,  a  literal 
obedience  to  these  sayings  would  entail  gross  injus- 
tice. It  is  unjust  for  one  who  has  worked  hard  for 
his  belongings  to  be  compelled  to  give  them  to 
every  one  who  asks  for  them,  when  those  who  ask 
have  probably  done  nothing. 

Each  saying  holds  a  great  principle:  the  first 
one,  referring  to  non-resistance,  forbids  us  being  so 
insistent  on  our  rights;  the  second,  referring  to  loans 
upon  interest,  or  business  loans,  demands  generosity 
in  business. 

Too  firm  insistence  on  property  rights  has  occa- 
sioned much  evil.  It  has  prompted  a  great  many 
wars.  It  has  caused  much  suffering.  It  always 
sacrifices  the  interests  of  the  weak.  It  has  broken 
up  many  homes  and  has  alienated  parents  from 
children,   and   children    from   each  other.     It  has 


176  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

engendered  a  vast  amount  of  bitterness,  and  bitter- 
ness is  fatal  to  the  growth  of  the  soul,  and  souls  are 
better  than  gold.  Jesus  knew  the  evil  it  had  done. 
He  saw  it  all  about  him,  and  so  he  says,  *'Be  not 
exacting,  be  yielding,  don't  insist  so  on  your 
rights.'*  The  language  is  sharp  and  startling,  but 
only  by  such  language  could  he  make  his  thought 
impressive. 

Acting  on  the  principle  that  business  is  business, 
and  that  all  is  fair  in  love  and  in  war,  and  that  busi- 
ness is  war,  is  also  a  great  evil.  It  has  filled  our 
land  with  bitterness.  It  begets  no  end  of  suspicion. 
It  kills  faith.  It  divides  class  against  class.  It 
crushes  the  weak.  It  ruins  souls.  Modem  busi- 
ness methods  cannot  possibly  be  reconciled  with 
Christ's  requirement.  The  combinations  of  capital 
for  the  purpose  of  furthering  self-interest,  irrespect- 
ive of  the  suffering  which  it  entails  upon  those  from 
whom  the  markets  are  taken,  or  those  thrown  out 
of  employment;  the  freezing  out  of  competitors;  the 
pooling  of  interests,  the  shutting  down  of  factories 
or  mines  because  the  profits  diminish  a  little,  when 
doing  so  causes  the  most  acute  suffering  to  helpless 
women  and  children,  is  not  generous,  and  violates 
the  principle  embodied  in  Christ's  saying  about 
business  loans  without  interest. 

The  third  principle  relating  to  riches,  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  enjoins  beneficence:  *'Take 
heed  that  ye  do  not  your  righteousness  before  men, 


ACCUMULATION  OF   RICHES  177 

to  be  seen  of  them;  else  ye  have  no  reward  with 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven.  When  therefore 
thou  doest  alms,  sound  not  a  trumpet  before  thee, 
as  the  hypocrites  do  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the 
streets,  that  they  may  have  glory  of  men.  Verily, 
I  say  unto  you,  they  have  received  their  reward. 
But  when  thou  doest  alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand 
know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth;  that  thine  alms 
may  be  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in 
secret  shall  recompense  thee.'*  (Matt.  vi.  1-4.) 
This,  it  is  true,  is  no  command  to  give  alms,  but 
the  endeavor  to  improve  the  practice  involves  the 
recognition  of  its  importance. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  how  secret  Jesus  has 
kept  his  own  almsgiving.  The  naturalness  with 
which  the  eleven  concluded  that  Judas  had  been 
directed  to  go  and  give  something  to  the  poor,  when 
he  departed  from  them  (Johnxiii.  29),  and  the  readi- 
ness with  which  they  criticized  Mary  for  not  giving 
the  money  which  she  spent  in  anointing  Jesus  for 
swelling  the  poor  fund  (Matt.  xxvi.  9),  makes  it 
clear  that  Jesus  gave  alms,  and  had  emphasized  its 
importance,  yet  no  instance  of  it  is  recorded. 

How  full  his  heart  was  with  love  for  the  needy ! 
**When  thou  makest  a  dinner  or  a  supper,'*  he 
says,  "call  not  thy  friends,  nor  thy  brethren,  nor 
thy  kinsmen,  nor  rich  neighbors;  lest  haply  they  also 
bid  thee  again  and  a  recompense  be  made  thee.  But 
when  thou  makest  a  feast  bid  the  poor,  the  maimed. 


178  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

the  lame,  the  bHnd;  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed;  be- 
cause they  have  not  the  wherewith  to  recompense 
thee;  for  thou  shalt  be  recompensed  in  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  just."  (Luke  xiv.  12-14.)  These  peo- 
ple need  your  inspiration,  your  sympathy,  and  the 
influence  of  your  example  and  presence.  Checks 
are  not  sufficient  for  them.  They  need  the  loving 
look,  the  touch  of  the  hand  that  is  friendly,  and  the 
heart  that  is  sympathetic.  It  was  for  this  reason 
that  he  ate  and  drank  with  them  so  often  and  was 
their  companion  and  friend. 

The  story  of  the  good  Samaritan  hardly  needs 
any  comment.  It  speaks  for  itself.  To  analyze  it 
mars  its  beauty.  **And  behold,  a  certain  lawyer 
stood  up  and  tempted  him,  saying,  Master,  what 
shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life?  And  he  said  unto 
him.  What  is  written  in  the  law.?  how  readest  thou.? 
And  he,  answering,  said.  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind;  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  And  he  said  unto  him. 
Thou  hast  answered  right:  this  do,  and  thou  shalt 
live.  But  he,  desiring  to  justify  himself,  said  unto 
Jesus,  And  who  is  my  neighbor?"  (Luke  x.  25-29), 
and  then  comes  the  story.  It  is  the  account  of  a 
traveler  who  fell  among  thieves,  who  robbed  him  and 
beat  him  and  left  him  half  dead,  whom  a  Samaritan 
found  and  cared  for,  and  putting  him  upon  his  own 
beast,  brought  him  to  an  inn,  to  the  keeper  of  which 


ACCUMULATION  OF  RICHES  179 

he  gave  the  money  required  for  the  care  of  the 
sufferer. 

Having  told  it  Jesus  said  to  the  lawyer,  *'Go  and 
do  likewise." 

One  incident  in  this  story  should  not  be  over- 
looked. It  has  often  escaped  the  interpreter.  It  is 
that  the  Samaritan  did  not  give  the  money  to  the 
sufferer,  but  to  the  keeper  of  the  inn.  And  this 
suggests  the  important  truth,  that  help  for  the  needy 
can  often  be  more  wisely  bestowed  when  given  indi- 
rectly than  directly,  as  when  it  is  given  to  institu- 
tions which  are  founded  for  helping  them. 

In  these  days,  when  there  are  so  many  of  these 
institutions,  it  is  almost  always  better.  Giving  alms, 
especially  to  unknown  men,  is  dangerous.  Benefi- 
cence to  the  back-door  tramps  does  harm.  It  should 
not  be  practiced,  no  matter  how  good  it  may  feel. 
Money  given  to  schools  for  the  endowment  of 
scholarships  to  assist  enterprising  young  people ;  to 
hospitals  to  enable  the  needy  to  obtain  good  treat- 
ment at  low  cost;  to  libraries  to  bring  downtrodden 
people  in  touch  with  high-minded,  inspiring  authors; 
to  boards  for  the  distribution  of  bibles,  the  establish- 
ment of  churches,  or  to  enable  them  to  send  out 
Christian  teachers  and  missionaries  to  fire  men  with 
a  realizing  sense  of  their  possibilities  because  of  their 
divine  sonship;  does  usually  much  more  good  than 
what  is  given  in  alms. 

And  may  we  not  beUeve  that  Jesus  would  have 


i8o  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

viewed  the  investment  of  capital  in  business  enter- 
prise with  the  dominating  thought  of  blessing,  with 
great  joy?  Undoubtedly  we  may.  For  he  who  in- 
vests in  plants — factories,  mines,  etc. — giving  work 
to  a  large  number  of  people,  and  paying  these,  not 
with  a  view  to  keeping  the  largest  possible  share  for 
self,  but  with  a  view  to  giving  the  largest  wage  con- 
sistent with  the  safety  of  the  plant,  becomes  exceed- 
ingly useful,  and  he  meets  the  demands  of  Jesus  as 
truly  as  if  he  gave  largely  to  charities,  or  schools, 
or  churches. 

Warnings  against  the  selfish  use  of  money  are 
contained  in  the  following  stories:  There  is  first  the 
story  of  the  sad  death  of  a  rich  capitaHst,  who  en- 
larged his  barns  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  wide  acres, 
and  suddenly  died  a  spiritual  pauper.  (Luke  xi. 
1 6-2 1.)  A  second  story  is  that  of  a  rich  man  who 
was  clothed  in  purple  and  fared  sumptuously  every 
day,  but  showed  no  concern  for  a  pauper  who  lay 
festering  in  sores  and  hungry  at  his  gate.  "And 
the  rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried.  And  in 
Hades  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments.'* 
(Luke  xvi.  22,  23.) 

A  third  story  is  that  of  the  rich  young  man — in 
some  respects  the  saddest  story  of  them  all — who 
was  so  anxious  to  inherit  eternal  life,  but  because  he 
was  not  willing  to  put  the  interests  of  God's  king- 
dom before  his  wealth,  failed  to  do  so.  (Matt.  xix. 
22.) 


ACCUMULATION  OF  RICHES 


In  order  to  encourage  the  unselfish  use  of  wealth, 
Jesus  promised  as  a  reward  for  it  the  treasures  of 
heaven  (Luke  xii.  33),  and  the  friendship  of  the 
saved.  *'And  I  say  unto  you,  make  to  yourselves 
friends  by  means  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteous- 
ness; that  when  it  shall  fail,  they  may  receive  you 
into  the  eternal  tabernacles."  (Luke  xvi.  9.) 
Gratitude  survives  the  grave.  What  a  stirring 
thought  it  is,  that  a  good  man  who  uses  his  wealth 
to  help  his  fellow-men  will  be  welcomed  when  he 
enters  the  spirit  world  by  those  whom  his  benevo- 
lence blessed! 

But  more  stirring  still  is  the  scene  which  Jesus 
portrayed,  and  which  he  says  shall  be  seen  at  the 
judgment  day.  (Matt.  xxvi.  31-46.)  In  this  picture 
he  shows  us  how  such  as  have  fed  the  hungry,  clothed 
the  naked,  and  visited  the  sick  and  the  prisoners 
shall  be  awarded  with  heaven,  while  those  who  have 
failed  to  do  this  shall  be  condemned  to  perdition. 

One  almost  fears  to  write  what  this  story  so 
plainly  teaches.  So  earnestly  have  we  been  taught 
by  catechism  and  teachers  that  salvation  is  of  grace, 
and  that  works  cannot  save  us,  that  we  have  almost 
come  to  believe  that  good  works  have  no  merit. 
But  the  teaching  is  so  plain,  so  direct,  that  we  can- 
not possibly  mistake  it.  Jesus  says  that  he  is  the 
friend  of  those  who  are  his  friends,  the  poor,  the 
hungry,  the  prisoners,  and  the  sick,  and  that  helping 
these  will  do  what  doctrines,  worship,  church-going, 


i82  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

and  prayer  will  sometimes  fail  to  do,  i.  e.,  insure 
one  an  entrance  into  heaven. 

This  truth,  the  importance  of  helping  the  needy, 
of  being  humane,  sympathetic,  tender,  is  another 
neglected  truth.  Everybody  knows  the  importance 
of  it,  everybody  gives  assent  to  it,  but  so  few  act 
accordingly. 

The  people  in  Jesus'  day  knew  its  importance. 
They  had  the  magnificent  humanitarian  laws  and 
teachings  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  they  despised 
the  poor.  Qas.  ii.  6.)  They  would  occasionally 
help  them,  but  with  money  which  they  had  first 
extorted  from  them.  At  least  this  seems  to  be 
taught  by  the  ironical  remark  of  Jesus  to  the  Phari- 
sees to  give  alms  of  such  things  as  were  within  their 
cups  and  platters — things  that  were  obtained  by 
extortion  and  wickedness.     (Luke  xi.  41.) 

The  people  in  Russia  know  its  importance.  Has 
not  the  large  Greek  church  the  beautiful  teachings 
of  Jesus?  But  the  earthly  existence  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  of  that  tremendous  realm  is  posi- 
tively painful.  They  are  hungry,  filthy,  oppressed, 
enslaved,  and  ignorant,  and  the  leaders  of  the  church 
mind  it  not. 

The  people  of  the  Middle  Ages  knew  its  impor- 
tance. Those  warring  knights  and  feudal  lords,  who 
were  fired  with  zeal  for  the  rescue  of  Christ's  sepul- 
cher  from  the  hand  of  the  Saracen  infidels,  but  had 
no  pity  for  the  suffering  serfs. 


ACCUMULATION  OF  RICHES  183 

The  people  of  a  hundred  years  or  less  ago  knew 
its  importance.  The  churchmen  who  sent  children 
to  labor  in  unhealthy  mines,  until  the  knowledge  of 
it  roused  Christian  England's  anger  and  stopped  it, 
and  the  slave-owner  who  shrank  not  from  ignoring 
domestic  affection,  selling  boys  and  girls  from  out 
of  the  reach  of  their  parent's  embrace. 

And  we  know  its  importance,  and  while  a  great 
deal  has  been  done  by  us  in  obedience  to  Jesus* 
command,  how  much  there  yet  remains  to  be  done! 
What  an  amount  of  suffering  there  still  is!  What 
sad  tales  one  reads  with  every  morning  paper !  And 
if  we  will  look  for  it,  we  might  see  sights  that  would 
make  sadder  tales  still. 

The  Christian  world  is  still  hard  on  the  unfortu- 
nate. If  one  is  down  he  is  apt  to  be  trampled  lower. 
Success  is  honored  while  hard  words  are  reserved 
for  the  failures.  The  children  of  the  failures  are 
called  riffraff,  trash,  scum,  dregs.  Poor  things!  It 
is  well  for  youth  to  battle  with  difficulties,  but  there 
are  some  difficulties  that  crush.  *'Have  not  all  a 
chance  in  free  America?"  it  is  asked.  Not  all. 
Such  as  possess  a  good  environment  and  a  healthy 
body  and  brain  have;  but  the  others  do  not.  The 
child  of  the  gutter  has  no  chance.  The  child  of 
shiftless,  drunken,  impure  parents,  living  in  over- 
crowded, foul-smelling  tenements,  has  not.  He 
cannot  be  anything  but  shiftless  and  drunken.  To 
rise  unaided  above  a  debased  environment  and  a  de- 


i84  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

praved  hereditary  tendency  is  impossible.  To  speak 
of  those  who  have  had  both  of  these  disadvantages  to 
contend  against  as  dregs  and  scum,  riffraff,  and 
pariahs,  is  wrong.  That  is  punishing  them  for 
what  they  cannot  help. 

For  these  people  far  more  should  be  done  than  as 
yet  has  been  done.  There  is  a  stirring  passage  in  an 
address  by  the  late  ex-Mayor  Hewitt,  of  New  York, 
which  he  made  about  three  years  ago  in  New  York 
before  a  meeting  to  raise  funds  for  the  East  Side 
work  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  **The  rich,"  he 
says,  "have  not  even  begun  what  they  ought  to  do. 
Men  that  I  almost  worship  for  their  generosity  and 
solicitude  for  those  that  have  less,  are  not  giving  in 
proportion  to  their  wealth  the  half  that  was  given 
by  their  families  a  generation  ago.  Have  we  a  right 
to  take  this  wealth  and  do  nothing  to  correct  the 
evils  created  in  its  production?  Can  you  accept 
these  millions  and  shut  your  eyes  to  the  evils  which 
weave  themselves  about  the  producers?  Can  any  one 
be  content  with  such  conditions?  Good  God !  can  this 
be  the  end  to  which  we  have  been  working  all  these 
centuries?  Is  this  the  result  of  our  industrial  devel- 
opment, and  must  our  prosperity  as  a  nation  be 
purchased  at  such  a  staggering  price?  If  these  ter- 
rible tenements,  these  overcrowded  districts,  these 
dark  and  foul-smelling  places,  and  all  the  attending 
miseries  must  go  with  industry,  then  I  would  to  God 
that  every  industrial  center  could  be  destroyed  as 


ACCUMULATION  OF  RICHES  185 

were  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  of  old,  and  men  be 
driven  back  to  the  land  where  they  can  at  least  have 
the  breezes  and  the  green  grass  and  the  sunshine  and 
blue  of  heaven  to  look  up  to."  (Outlook,  Vol. 
LXVII.  No.  2,  p.  89.) 

Are  these  words  too  strong?  I  do  not  know  that 
they  are.  This  is  sure,  that  far  more  attention  will 
have  to  be  paid  to  the  redemption  of  these  classes 
than  there  yet  is,  before  the  Christian  world  can 
expect  to  hear  from  the  Judge  in  the  final  day: 
**Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  king- 
dom prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 

world Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of 

these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 


THE    PROGRESSIVE    CONSERVATISM 
OF   JESUS 


"Think  not  that  I  came  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  proph- 
ets; I  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  one  jot  or  one 
tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  away  from  the  law,  till  all  things 
be  accomplished.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  break  one  of 
these  least  commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  shall 
be  called  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven;  but  whosoever 
shall  do  and  teach  them,  he  shall  be  called  great  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  For  I  say  unto  you.  That  except  your 
righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."     (Matt,  v,  17-20.) 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE  PROGRESSIVE  CONSERVATISM  OF  JESUS 

In  certain  treatises  which  deal  with  the  social  and 
economic  side  of  Jesus'  teachings,  he  is  spoken  of  as 
a  radical.  This  estimate  does  not  accord  with  what 
is  said  of  him  in  the  gospels.  Instead  of  calling  him 
a  radical  it  would  be  far  truer  to  call  him  a  conser- 
vative. 

To  begin  with,  his  conservatism  is  seen  in  his 
attitude  to  the  Old  Testament.  The  student  of 
religion,  engaged  in  the  study  of  this  book,  finds 
Httle  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus  that  cannot  be  found 
there.  All  the  great  doctrines  of  Christianity,  such 
as  that  of  God,  angels,  Satan,  providence,  the  judg- 
ment, the  future  life,  sin,  repentance,  forgiveness, 
faith,  prayer,  worship,  are  there;  if  not  clearly 
stated,  are  at  least  germinally  present. 

The  same  is  true  of  his  teachings  referring  to 
economic  conditions.  All  the  economic  topics  upon 
which  Jesus  is  reported  to  have  spoken  are  found  in 
the  Old  Testament;  and  what  is  more,  those  upon 
which  the  Old  Testament  lays  the  greatest  emphasis 
do  also  get  the  most  emphasis  from  Jesus. 

This  conservatism  of  Jesus  comes  out  still  more 
in  his  attitude  to  the  church.     The  church  of  that 
189 


190  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

time  had  sadly  apostatized.  The  teachings  of  God 
contained  in  the  Old  Testament  had  been  largely 
replaced  by  the  teachings  of  men.  The  comments 
upon  God's  word  took  the  place  of  the  word  itself. 
The  leaders  of  religion  were  corrupt,  and  this  had 
cost  them  the  confidence  of  the  people.  The  syna- 
gogues on  the  sabbath  were  comparatively  empty, 
and  to  neglect  them  was  fashionable. 

Yet  Jesus  did  not  join  in  this  neglect.  It  was 
his  wont  not  only  to  attend  them,  but  also  to  take 
part  in  the  services.  (Luke  iv.  16.)  This  he  did 
before  his  public  ministry  began,  and  he  continued 
it  afterwards.  **He  went  about  all  Galilee  teaching 
in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom.'*  (Matt.  iv.  23.)  To  the  great  feasts  in 
Jerusalem  he  was  a  frequent  visitor,  and  as  when  a 
boy  of  twelve,  so  as  a  public  teacher,  the  place  in 
which  he  was  most  apt  to  be  found  was  the  temple. 

A  radical  person  would  have  left  the  church  in 
despair,  or  probably  in  disgust,  and  advocated  the 
substitution  of  something  else  in  her  place. 

His  conservatism  is  also  seen  in  his  attitude  to 
social  institutions.  The  best  illustration  of  this  is 
his  attitude  to  the  family.  There  is  in  his  teaching 
not  a  trace  of  that  looseness  of  view  respecting  that 
institution  which  is  to-day  so  marked  among  our 
social  and  economic  writers,  especially  in  Germany. 
In  all  his  utterances  there  is  only  one  specific  rule, 
and  this  one  is  in  the  interest  of  the  integrity  of  the 


HIS  PROGRESSIVE  CONSERVATISM     191 

home.  The  ease  with  which  the  marital  relations 
could  be  broken  received  his  express  disapproval, 
and  the  irreverence  to  parents  which  was  tolerated 
by  the  Pharisees  got  his  merited  rebuke. 

Leaving  the  family,  to  look  at  his  relation  to  the 
state,  we  see  the  same  conservatism  there.  There 
is  no  attempt  to  interfere  with  established  political 
institutions.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever 
said  aught  against  the  authority  of  the  Romans, 
Herod,  or  the  local  rulers.  He  always  obeyed  the 
authorities  and  required  it  of  his  followers.  (Matt, 
xvii.  2T,  Luke  xvii.  14;  v.  14.) 

That  one  should  maintain  a  conservative  attitude 
in  all  his  relations  except  the  economic  one  would 
be  strange.  The  presumption  is  against  it.  Nor  is 
it  true.  Jesus  was  as  conservative  there  as  every- 
where else,  as  has  already  been  proven.  The  eco- 
nomic conditions  of  many  of  the  people  were  very 
bad,  which  grieved  him  much;  the  temptation  to  use 
violent  language  concerning  the  greed  of  the  rich, 
and  the  injustice  of  the  rulers  was  great,  but  he 
never  used  it;  nor  did  he  ever  advocate  any  drastic 
measures  looking  towards  a  change. 

His  conservatism  was,  however,  progressive. 
There  is  the  kind  that  retards  progress,  and  there  is 
also  that  which  furthers  it.  The  conservatism  of  the 
Pharisees  was  of  the  former  kind,  and  this  was  one 
of  the  causes  why  Christ  came  in  conflict  with  them. 

The    Pharisees    had   no    thought   of   progress. 


192  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Their  look  was  backward,  not  forward.  In  all  mat- 
ters of  consequence  they  consulted  the  opinions  of 
the  fathers,  which  were  called  the  traditions  of  the 
elders.  Learning  consisted  in  knowing  what  these 
traditions  were.  The  better  one  knew  them,  the 
greater  his  fame.  No  one  struck  out  upon  new 
lines  of  investigation,  whence  the  sum  total  of 
knowledge  remained  practically  the  same.  Like 
criminals  in  a  treadmill,  they  walked  continually  the 
same  circle,  and  advanced  nothing. 

Jesus  beheved  in  progress.  ''I  have  yet  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  you  cannot  bear  them 
now,'*  he  said  to  his  disciples,  implying  that  the 
time  would  come  when  they  could  bear  them. 
(John  xvi.  12.) 

Taking  no  account  of  progress,  the  Pharisees 
could  not  reahze  the  meaning  of  changed  conditions. 
In  this,  too,  they  differed  from  Jesus.  He  recog- 
nized that  institutions  and  laws  might  be  wise  for 
certain  people  and  be  wholly  unfit  for  other  people, 
or  for  the  same  people  at  a  different  time.  This  is 
well  illustrated  in  the  first  part  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount. 

Jesus  was  accused  by  the  Pharisees  of  destroying 
the  laws  and  the  prophets.  After  entering  a  denial 
of  this,  he  instances  six  laws  in  support  of  the  denial, 
those  concerning  anger,  adultery,  divorce,  oaths, 
resistance,  and  hatred.  These  laws  were  enacted 
to  check  evils — that  concerning  divorce  to  check 


HIS  PROGRESSIVE  CONSERVATISM     I93 

separation,  the  one  concerning  oaths  to  check  un- 
truthfulness, while  the  law  called  lex  talionisj  requir- 
ing an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  was 
intended  to  check  private  revenge.  The  existence 
of  these  laws  was  a  public  declaration  of  the  evil  of 
the  things  against  which  they  were  enacted. 

Any  one  believing  in  moral  progress  is  likely  to 
believe  in  the  coming  of  a  time  when  such  evils  shall 
have  ceased  to  exist,  or  at  any  rate  when  the  period 
for  their  regulation  shall  be  past.  But  the  Pharisees 
did  not  believe  in  such  progress.  Years  had  passed 
since  these  laws  had  been  enacted — years  of  instruc- 
tion, discipline,  and  culture — and  still  they  stood  on 
the  statute  books  and  they  demanded  the  same 
obedience  to  them  which  was  demanded  when  they 
were  first  enacted.  If  it  was  once  right  for  a  man 
to  put  away  his  wife  when  he  found  something  un- 
seemly in  her,  or  hated  her,  it  must  always  be  right, 
they  argued.  (Deut.  xxiv.  1-4.)  So  with  the  other 
laws.  Thus  they  turned  laws  that  were  enacted  to 
check  an  evil  into  a  justification  of  it.  They  made 
of  the  law  a  license,  just  as  is  done  with  the  laws 
enacted  to  check  the  growth  of  the  liquor  industry. 
When  the  law  declares  the  business  to  be  evil  and 
dangerous,  requiring  to  be  checked,  men  use  it  to 
prove  that  the  business  is  legal  and  right. 

All  this  is  wrong,  said  Jesus.  The  time  has 
come  for  men  to  be  beyond  such  laws.  Men  ought 
by  this  time  to  be  so  true  that  oaths  shall  be  unne- 


194  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

cessary,  so  pure  that  divorce  regulations  shall  be 
superfluous,  so  gentlemanly  that  the  law  requiring 
an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  might  be 
erased  from  the  statute  book.  These  laws  were 
enacted  on  account  of  the  hardness  of  men's  hearts. 
Obedience  to  them  was  as  much  as  could  be  expected 
from  a  people  just  emerging  from  slavery,  but  it  is 
not  enough  for  you.  ** Except  your  righteousness 
exceeds  that  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees" — which  is 
such  as  might  have  existed  a  thousand  years  ago — 
**ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."     (Matt.  v.  20.) 

Not  believing  in  progress  the  Pharisees  did  not, 
of  course,  use  the  past  in  the  interest  of  progress. 
They  used  the  past  as  a  compass  to  determine  the 
location  of  their  position.  Jesus  used  it  as  a  staff 
wherewith  to  expedite  progress. 

It  is  said  that  workmen  have  labored  at  St. 
Peter's  Cathedral  for  more  than  three  hundred  years. 
Several  generations  of  laborers  have  been  needed  to 
complete  that  beautiful  structure.  Each  new  gener- 
ation has  added  to  the  work  of  the  generation  that 
preceded  it.  In  this  way  the  temple  of  truth  is  con- 
structed, each  successive  generation  adding  to  the 
work  of  the  generation  before. 

But  the  Pharisees  did  not  do  this.  They  took 
the  bricks,  the  stones,  the  mortar,  the  joists,  and 
the  beams  which  preceding  generations  had  added 
to  the  temple,  and  looked  at  them,  examined  them. 


HIS   PROGRESSIVE  CONSERVATISM      I95 

turned  them  over,  and  studied  them  again,  but  they 
added  not  a  brick. 

Neither  did  the  Sadducees.  Instead  of  building 
on  to  the  structure  they  actually  took  its  materials 
away.  The  Sadducees  were  destroyers,  skeptics; 
and  like  the  modern  skeptics,  they  regarded  the  men 
of  the  past  who  have  believed  as  foolish,  and  con- 
gratulated themselves  on  having  been  wise  enough 
to  discover  this. 

Nor  did  the  Essenes  further  truth.  They  stood 
aside  from  humanity,  and  like  impractical  monks,  as 
they  were,  let  the  temple  of  truth  lie  waste. 

Jesus  added  to  the  temple.  He  came  not  to 
destroy,  as  he  said  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  did,  he 
came  to  fulfil;  i.  e.,  to  complete. 

Men  had  some  knowledge  of  God.  They  knew 
him  as  just,  merciful,  forgiving,  compassionate,  and 
sympathetic;  they  spoke  of  him  as  their  rock,  their 
shield,  their  high  tower,  their  father;  but  Jesus  made 
all  that  knowledge  more  full  and  real  and  clear, 
especially  his  fatherhood.  ''Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven." 

Men  had  some  knowledge  of  the  future  life. 
They  knew  of  the  judgment  day,  the  separation,  the 
punishments,  and  the  rewards.  Jesus  enlarged  that 
knowledge.  There  is  no  record  of  any  Hebrew 
before  his  time  who  looked  forward  to  death  with 
joy.  The  future  was  regarded  as  a  gloomy  place, 
even  the  abode  of  the  blessed.     The  saying  of  the 


196  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

Grecian  Achilles,  that  he  would  rather  be  a  shepherd 
in  Greece  than  a  ruler  in  hades,  expressed  the  opinion 
of  the  Hebrews.  Jesus  removed  this  gloom.  He 
brought    immortahty   to   light.     "In   my   Father's 

house  are  many  mansions I  go  to  prepare 

a  place  for  you." 

Men  had  knowledge  of  their  duties;  such  as  to 
love,  to  have  faith,  to  be  merciful,  patient,  just,  un- 
selfish, and  gentle,  but  Jesus  carried  the  knowledge 
of  these  duties  far  higher.  He  did  this  by  word  and 
by  example.  Nobody  spoke  so  much  of  the  impor- 
tance of  faith,  and  nobody  had  ever  exhibited  so 
much.  No  one  was  ever  so  urgent  in  emphasizing 
the  importance  and  power  of  love,  and  no  one  loved 
like  he.  So  with  the  other  duties,  he  carried  them 
to  loftier  altitudes. 

From  his  contemporaries  Jesus  stood  quite  aloof. 
The  attempt  to  prove  that  several  of  his  ideas  were 
borrowed  from  the  rabbis  must  end  in  failure.  The 
phrases  that  are  now  and  then  culled  from  them, 
resembling  some  of  Jesus'  parables  and  sundry  peti- 
tions of  the  Lord's  prayer,  are  misleading.  They 
are  sayings  that  were  uttered  by  men  who  lived  from 
fifty  to  a  hundred  years  after  Jesus.  Some  lived 
even  later.  The  ideas  which  their  sayings  embody 
are  probably  borrowed  from  Jesus,  as  the  influence 
of  Christianity  was  early  felt  upon  the  Gentile  world, 
and  probably  as  early  on  the  Jewish.  The  contem- 
poraries of  Jesus  have  left  us  no  literature  except  a 


HIS  PROGRESSIVE  CONSERVATISM     19? 

few  detached  phrases,  presumably  because  no  more 
was  worth  preserving. 

But  with  the  law-givers  and  the  prophets  of  the 
Old  Testament  Jesus'  connection  was  close.  This 
caused  him  to  be  silent  upon  many  topics  concerning 
which  he  otherwise  would  have  spoken.  This  is 
true  of  economic  topics  as  well  as  of  religious  topics. 
What  had  been  said  was  enough.  His  sermons 
dealt  with  subjects  such  as  the  need  of  the  hour 
demanded.  His  method  was  the  practical  one. 
Only  topics  that  needed  to  be  re-emphasized  engaged 
his  attention. 

How  could  his  connection  with  the  law-givers 
and  prophets  be  else  than  close.?  They  were  inspired 
men.  His  own  spirit  had  instructed  them.  He 
himself  had  enlightened  them,  and  if  their  words 
were  less  full  and  clear  than  his  own,  that  was  only 
because  they  were  inferior  as  men.  A  perfect  reve- 
lation requires  a  perfect  vehicle.  They  were  imper- 
fect, while  Jesus  was  perfect.  To  assume  that  Jesus 
was  not  closely  related  to  the  past,  or  that  he  broke 
with  the  past,  was  a  revolutionist  instead  of  an  evo- 
lutionist, a  radical  instead  of  a  conservative,  denies 
the  inspiration  of  the  law-givers  and  the  prophets, 
which  the  scriptures  so  emphatically  assert. 

It  is  this  close  relation  of  Jesus  to  the  past  that 
makes  it  so  difficult  to  point  out  what  there  is  new 
in  his  teaching.  Every  now  and  then  we  think  we 
have  something  that  is  new  which  later  we  find  to  be 


19S  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

more  or  less  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Old  Testament. 
To  attempt  to  point  out  the  additions  which  Jesus 
has  made  to  truth  is  like  endeavoring  to  show  just 
what  each  season  has  added  to  the  growth  of  a  boy. 
It  cannot  be  held  up  in  a  lump  with  the  invitation, 
"Here,  look  at  it.*'  All  the  organs  of  the  boy  are 
better  developed,  are  fuller,  larger,  and  stronger 
from  the  growth  of  the  season,  but  no  new  organs 
are  added,  and  the  additions  to  him  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated and  measured.  It  is  thus  with  the  teaching  of 
Jesus. 

The  question  might  be  asked,  If  Jesus  is  not 
original.  Not  in  the  sense  in  which  an  inventor  is, 
producing  what  has  never  before  been  seen.  His 
is  an  originality  like  that  of  a  famous  artist.  In 
examining  the  artist's  picture,  one  perhaps  does  not 
see  an  object  which  he  has  not  seen  painted  before, 
and  probably  equally  well.  Here  is  a  hand,  yonder 
is  a  face,  beyond  that  a  brook,  which  another  artist, 
unknown  to  fame,  has  painted  just  as  perfectly,  but 
this  does  not  reflect  upon  the  originality  of  the  artist. 
His  glory  does  not  consist  in  that  he  painted  what 
no  one  has  painted  before,  not  even  in  the  superior- 
ity with  which  he  has  painted  each  separate  object 
in  the  picture;  it  consists  in  the  beautiful,  harmoni- 
ous organization  of  the  various  parts  into  one  glori- 
ous whole.  So  with  Jesus.  His  glory  consists  not 
in  the  new  things  which  he  said,  but  in  the  clearness 
with  which  he  stated  old  truths.     In  his  wonderful 


HIS   PROGRESSIVE   CONSERVATISM     199 

grasp  upon  fundamental  principles,  the  evenness  of 
his  temper,  the  judicial  balance  of  his  mind,  his 
intense  practicalness,  his  deep  sympathy  for  the 
needs  of  the  moment,  the  keenness  with  which  he 
would  ask  and  answer  questions  which  pierced 
through  all  subterfuges  to  the  root  of  things,  and 
flooded  any  subject  to  which  they  related  with  new 
light ;  above  all,  in  what  he  was — in  his  divine  per- 
sonality— through  which  he  was  enabled  to  make 
truth  which  was  apparently  dead  vital  and  forceful, 
in  these,  the  greatness  and  originality  of  Jesus  con- 
sisted. 

It  is  undoubtedly  a  great  disappointment  to 
some  not  to  find  in  Jesus'  teachings  an  economic 
system.  But  this  could  not  be.  It  is  not  God's 
way.  He  never  does  for  us  what  we  can  do  for 
ourselves.  Look  at  what  he  does  for  us  through 
nature.  He  gives  us  wheat,  but  he  bakes  us  no 
bread;  he  provides  us  with  wool,  but  he  makes  us 
no  garments;  he  supplies  us  with  trees,  but  he 
builds  us  no  houses;  he  furnishes  us  with  fire  and 
water  to  make  steam,  but  he  does  not  show  us  how 
to  build  a  locomotive ;  he  stores  the  atmosphere  with 
electrical  fluid,  but  he  builds  us  no  dynamos.  So  he 
gives  us  no  systems,  he  gives  us  truths,  but  we  must 
make  the  systems  ourselves.  It  is  better  so.  It  is 
thus  that  we  grow. 

Then,  too,  it  would  have  been  impossible  for 
Christ  to  have  given  us  a  system  which  would  be 


200  THE   TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

universally  suitable.  It  is  with  economic  institutions 
as  it  is  with  poHtical  ones,  what  suits  one  people  does 
not  suit  another.  A  representative  government  is 
probably  very  suitable  for  the  people  in  Massachu- 
setts, but  it  would  not  suit  the  present  population  of 
Mindanao.  Similarly,  such  differently  advanced  peo- 
ple want  different  economic  institutions. 

There  are  three  facts  touching  the  subject  of  this 
book  that  need  special  attention. 

The  first  is,  that  Jesus  was  tremendously  inter- 
ested in  people's  economic  conditions.  Consequently 
no  man  is  a  true  follower  of  Jesus  who  is  indifferent 
to  the  subjects  that  relate  to  people's  material  pos- 
sessions. 

The  second  fact  is,  that  Jesus  sought  to  better 
people's  material  conditions  by  making  the  people 
themselves  better.  The  rationality  of  that  appears 
to  all  who  observe  what  is  going  on  in  society,  and 
who  take  time  to  think  Such  as  labor  for  the  eco- 
nomic betterment  of  people,  and  do  not  aim  to  make 
the  people  themselves  better,  are  just  like  seamen 
bailing  water  out  of  a  sinking  ship,  leaving  the 
opening  through  which  the  water  flows  in  unstopped. 

The  third  fact  is,  that  Jesus  planned  to  make 
men  better  through  the  agency  of  the  church.  He 
worked  to  that  end  in  connection  with  the  Jewish 
church  as  long  as  its  leaders  would  let  him,  and 
when  they  cast  him  out,  he  organized  a  church  of 
his  own. 


HIS  PROGRESSIVE  CONSERVATISM     201 

Believing  as  we  do  in  the  divine  wisdom  of  Jesus, 
we  cannot  but  believe  that  the  future  of  society  rests 
with  the  Christian  church.  In  proportion  as  that 
organization  is  active,  in  obedience  to  Jesus,  in  sav- 
ing man  frpm  sin,  will  she  be  efficient  in  improving 
people's  economic  conditions.  Periods  of  great 
spiritual  awakenings  have  always  been  followed  by 
social  uplifts.  Men  of  great  spiritual  power  who 
worked  through  the  church  leave  in  their  wake  the 
largest  number  of  beneficent  activities.  The  social 
good  done  by  Luther  in  alleviating  the  burdensome- 
ness  of  poverty,  by  Calvin,  Chalmers,  and  Wesley, 
Edwards,  Finney,  and  Beecher,  Spurgeon,  Brooks, 
and  Moody,  cannot  be  paralleled  by  a  like  number 
of  equally  able  men  who  worked  outside  the 
church. 

Sometimes  one  meets  people  who  are  really  in- 
terested in  beneficent  activities,  and  extol  Jesus  for 
his  goodness  and  wisdom,  but  who  at  the  same  time, 
almost  in  the  same  breath,  slur  his  church.  The 
utter  inconsistency  of  conduct  like  that,  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  state.  If,  as  they  say,  the  church  has  apos- 
tatized, it  has  certainly  not  done  so  to  the  extent  to 
which  the  Jewish  church  had  done  it,  and  which 
Jesus  never  neglected.  Nor  are  slurs  and  neglects 
in  order.  Ministers  might  be  rebuked,  but  then  it 
should  be  open  and  to  their  face,  as  Jesus  rebuked 
the  Pharisees;  but  the  institution  should  be  kept 
apart   from  the  leaders.     Not  slurs  and   neglects, 


202  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 

but  tears  and  prayers  and  correction  and  advice  are 
in  order,  for  if  the  organization  which  Christ  has 
given  us  for  the  world's  redemption  fails,  we  must 
despair  of  humanity,  for  there  is  no  other  agency 
for  its  redemption  left,  nor  has  any  been  promised. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  quoted,  165. 

Aboth,  Talmudic  tract,  19. 

Accumulation,  157. 

Acts,  writer   of,  friendly  to  the 

poor,  98. 
Agriculture,   loved    by    the    He- 
brews, ig. 
main  occupation  of  the  Essenes, 

59. 
Akiba,  R.,  58,  79. 
Alms,  virtue  in  declining,  82. 
should  spring  from  love,  82. 
Almsgiving,  regarded  by  Jews  as 

meritorious,  80,  84. 
urged  by  Jesus,  177,  178. 
organized  after  the  destruction 

of  Jerusalem,  36. 
danger  in,  179. 
Amusements,  Greek  influence  on, 

22. 
Annas  the  High  Priest,  violence 

of,  72. 
Apostles  could  hold  no  property, 

144. 
Archeiaus,  9. 
Aristotle,  44,  46. 
Ascetic,  Jesus  not  an,  149. 

Baba  Bathra,  Talmudic  tract,  19, 

79,  80,  81,  82,  83. 
Baba   Kamma,   Talmudic   tract, 

79.  82. 
Baba  Meziah,  Talmudic  tract,  19, 

78,  79,  83. 
Balsam  gardens  at  Jericho,  17. 
Barachoth,  Talmudic  tract,  19,  78, 

79.80. 


Baruch,  113. 

Benevolence,  urged  in    the  Old 
Testament,  47. 
urged  in  the  Apocrypha,  84. 
urged  in  the  Mishna,  78,  80,  81, 

82. 
urged  by  Jesus,  177-179. 
as  practiced  to-day,  182, 183. 
rewards  of,  181. 
Bitterness,  social,  in  Jesus'  day, 

34. 
Borrower,  laws  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment protecting  him,  49. 
Bruce,  100. 

Building  by  the  Herods,  31. 
Business,     generosity    In,    com- 
manded by  Jesus,  176. 
Business  enterprises,  Jesus'  atti- 
tude to,  180. 

Caberim,  70. 
Caesarea,  harbor  of,  20. 
Capital  protected,  50,  51. 
Ceremonialism,  63,  66,  67,  69. 
Chagiga,  Talmudic  tract,  81,  82. 
Children,  training  of,  46. 
Church,  Jesus'  regard  for,  190, 200. 
Climate,  15. 
Commerce,  feared  by  Rabbis,  19. 

excellent  location  for,  20. 

extent  of,  20. 

forbidden  by  the  Essenes,  59, 
Communism,   practiced    by    the 
Essenes,  59. 

existed  among  the  Apostles,  144. 

not  approved  by  Jesus  for  gen' 
eral  purposes,  145. 


203 


204 


INDEX 


Dead  Sea,  14. 

Debtors,    protection   of,   in   Old 
Testament  legislation,  49. 
in  rabbinical  legislation,  83. 
fared  hard  in  Jesus'  day,  36. 
Dependent,  the,  remembered  in 

Hebrew  legislation,  46. 
Divine    ownership,    teaching    of 
the  Old  Testament  regarding, 

147. 
fundamental  with  Jesus,  147. 
practically  denied  to-day,  151. 
Divorce,  easy  to  obtain  in  Jesus' 
day,  58. 
opposed  by  Jesus,  igo. 
Drachma,  value  of,  28. 
Duty  of  the  rich  toward  the  poor, 
182. 

Earthly  possessions,  Jesus'  atti- 
tude to,  141-145- 

Ecclesiasticus,  84,  85. 

Edersheim,  32. 

Education  among  the  Jews,  132. 

Educational  opportunities  of  Je- 
sus, 131-134- 

Emperor,  complaints  against 
Herod,  made  to,  36. 

Enjoyment  of  wealth,  148. 

Enoch,  Book  of.  quoted,  34,  35- 

Erachin,  Talmudic  tract,  84. 

Esdraelon,  Plain  of,  14,  129. 

Essenes,  name  of,  58. 
communism  of,  59. 
radically  different  from  Jesus, 

60,  61. 
im practicalness  of  the  Essenes, 
195. 

Family,  Jesus'  regard  for  the,  190, 

191. 
Feasts,  journeys  to,  helped  the 

culture  of  Palestine,  21. 
Foreigners  in  Palestine,  21. 


Future  life,  the,  often  in  Jesus' 
mind,  116,  117,  118. 
Jesus  enlarges  our  knowledge 
of,  196. 

Galilee,  Lake  of,  14. 

fertility  of,  17. 

population  of,  18. 
Gamaliel,  Rabban,  the  elder,  86. 
Geike,  quoted,  129. 
Gitten,  Talmudic  tract,  58,  78. 
God,  the  owner  of  all,  146,  147. 

promises  provision  for  such  as 
serve  him,  160. 
Godet,  quoted,  loi. 
Gospels,  variations  in  the,  91. 

must  be  combined   to  under 
stand  Jesus,  105. 
Greeks,  influence  of  the,  on  Pal- 
estine, 21,  22. 

Hamburger,  31,  32. 

Harbors  in  Palestine,  22. 

Hell,  Christ's  fear  of,  116. 

Herod  Antipas,  31,  32, 

Herod  the  Great,  his  character,  29. 

hated  by  the  Jews,  29,  36. 

building  enterprises  of,  30,  31. 

complaint  against,  32. 
Herron,  118. 
Hewit,  quoted,  184. 
Hillel,  the  elder,  49.  58- 
Holtzmann.  8. 
Hyppolytus,  59. 

Idumea,  terrorized  by  robbers,  30. 
Indolence,  not   characteristic   of 
the  Jews,  78. 
repugnant  to  Jesus,  150. 
Inequality  in  possessions  not  ob- 
jected to  by  Jesus,  148. 
Interest,  or  usury,  forbidden  in 
the  Old  Testament,  48, 
not  discussed  by  Jesus,  119. 
disapproved  by  the  rabbis,  83. 


INDEX 


205 


James,  Epistle  of,  its  likeness  to 

the  Gospel  of  Luke,  98. 
Jebamoth,  Talmudic  tract,  19,  83. 
Jericho,  15. 
Jerusalem,  15,  36, 
Jesus,  lowly  birth,  126-128. 
lived  in  the  country,  129-133. 
had  poor  educational  opportuni- 
ties, 131-134. 
worked  hard,  130,  131. 
fellowshipped  with  laborers,  134- 

136. 
the  probable  significance  of  his 

lowly  life,  134. 
was  the  friend  of  all,  112. 
was  especially  friendly  to  the 
poor  and  the  needy,  109,  114, 
171.  177. 
sought   to   improve    economic 

conditions,  112,  113. 
left  no  economic  system,  199. 
relied  on  moral  means  for  mak- 
ing  society    better,  118,  120, 
200. 
his  purposes  spiritual,  116. 
was    much     concerned    about 

men's  future  life,  114,  115. 
his  attitude  to  property,  147. 
was  no  ascetic,  149. 
was  conservative,  189. 
yet  progressive,  enlarged  knowl- 
edge, 195. 
relation  of  his  teaching  to  his 

contemporaries,  196. 
his  attitude  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 197. 
his  loyalty  to  the  church,  190. 
the  originality  of  Jesus,  198. 
Jewish  church  in  Jesus'  day,  190. 
John  the  Baptist,  62. 
John,  Gospel  of,  its  purpose,  94. 
Joma,  Talmudic  tract,  78. 
Joppa,  harbor  of,  20. 
Jordan,  valley  of,  15. 


Josephus,  17,  18,  20,  30,  32,  33,  36, 

59,  67,  72, 11,  131. 
Jubilees,  Book  of,  113. 
Judea,  fertility  of,  17. 

Kethuboth,  Talmudic  tract,  81,  82. 

Kiddushin,  Talmudic  tract,  78. 

King,  power  of,  in  Old  Testament 
legislation,  52. 

Kingdom  of  God,  social  signifi- 
cance of  th"  term,  112. 

Labor,  respected  by  the  Jews,  43, 
44.  78. 
organized,  23. 
Laborer,  the,  his  rights  respected, 
45. 
not  disdained,  78. 
Law,  the  Jewioh,  superior  to  the 
Roman  law,  46. 
was  in  the  interest  of  the  poor, 

46,  49. 
emphasis  on  the  study  of,  131. 
Lawlessness  in  Palestine,  30. 
Loans,  making  of,  in  Old  Testa- 
ment, 48. 
in  Misbna,  82. 
what  Jesus  says  of,  174-175. 
Love,  in  giving  alms,  82. 
Luke,  the  evangelist,  95. 
Luke,   gospel   of,    addressed   to 
Greeks,  96. 
its  sources,  97,  98. 
its  fullness  touching  matters  of 

property,  90-94. 
its  author  sympathetic  towards 

the  poor,  92,  99. 
the  historicity  of   the  Gospel, 
104,  105. 

Maclaren,  Ian,  quoted,  164. 
Mammon   worship,    meaning    of 
term  mammon,  156. 
is  a  great  sin,  155, 156. 


2o6 


INDEX 


weapons  against,  158-161. 

is  the  sin  of  the  present,  163-167. 
Mark,  Gospel  of,  characteristics 

of,  94. 
Marquandt,  32. 
Marriage,  loose  view  of,  58. 

repudiation  of  it  by  the  Essenes, 

59. 
sanctity  of  it  in  estimation  of 
Jesus,  119. 
Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  126, 

131. 
Mathews,  Shailer,  8,  57. 
Matthew,  Gospel  of,  material  of 

it,  91. 
cause  of  its  variation  from  Luke, 

9-9-103. 
Mishna,  date  of,  'j*]. 
Monabaz,  the  benevolence  of,  80. 
Money,  evil  influence  of,  161-163. 

Naumann,  139. 

Nazareth,  its  fine  location,  129. 
Nedarim,Talmudic  tract,  78. 
New  Testament,  the  purpose  of, 

43. 
Nidda,  Talmudic  tract,  71.  72. 
Nitti,  139. 
Non  resistance,  173,  i74. 

Old  Testament,  purpose  of  Old 
Testament,  43. 

humane  laws  of,  46-48. 

its  views  of  property,  146, 

Jesus'  agreement  with,  147. 

Jesus'  relation  to,  197. 
Oppression  denounced,  49,  So. 

Palestine,  topography  of,  13, 15. 
climate  various,  15. 
products  various,  16. 
fertility  great,  13-18. 
large  population  in  Jesus'  day, 
18. 


Palestinian   Christians  generally 

poor,  98. 
Parable,  the,  of  the  rich  farmer, 
162,  180. 
of  the  Good  Samaritan,  178. 
of  the  great  supper,  177. 
of  the  unjust  steward,  147. 
of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  150. 
of  the  judgment  day,  181. 
Parents   of    Jesus,   sympathized 

with  Pharisees,  133. 
Paul,  67,  95. 

quoted,  57. 
Pea,  Talmudic  tract,  19,  35,  82. 
Peabody,  7, 139. 

quoted,  143,  149. 
Perea,  fertility  of,  17. 
Pesachim,  Talmudic  tract,  19,  79. 

82. 
Pharisees,  origin  of  the  name,  61. 
influential  with  the  people,  61. 
denounced  by  Jesus,  62. 
legalism  of  the,  63-67. 
their  neglect  of  the  moral  and 

the  social  laws,  69. 
speculations  of  the,  70. 
their    unprogressive   conserva- 
tism, 192-194. 
Philo,  35.  37.  59.  85.  132.  i33. 
Pilgrims,  the,  good  influence  of, 

21. 
Plato,  43. 
Pliny,  17,  59« 
Pompey,  28. 

Poor,  the,  kindly  remembered  in 
Hebrew  legislation,  47. 
neglected  in  Jesus'  day,  87. 
Jesus  interested  in  them,  87. 
Poverty,  prevalence  of  it  in  Jesus' 

day,  27,  28. 
Prayer,  regulations  respecing,  66. 
Priests,  largely  Sadducees,  72. 
Property,     property     rights    ac- 
knowledged. So,  SI. 


INDEX 


207 


God  the  real  owner,  146,  147. 
Public  schools  among  the  Jews, 
131. 

Rabbis,  the,  their  regard  for  labor, 

19.  78. 
Religion,  low  state  of  it  in  Jesus' 

day,  57. 
Renan,  no,  139. 

Rich,  the,  hard  towards  the  poor, 
35. 
some  rich  who  were  friends  of 
Jesus,  III. 
Rich  young  man,  the,  68,  141,  161, 

180. 
Riches,  are  held  as  a  trust,  51. 
are  disparaged  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, 51. 
are  dangerous,  51. 
are  disparaged  in  rabbinic  liter- 
ature, 83. 
are  disparaged  by  Jesus,  156. 
Jesus  fears  their  unholy  influ- 
ence, 161-163. 
He  does  not  ask  His  followers 

to  abandon,  141-144. 
but  forbids  a  too  firm  insistence 
on  property  rights,  175. 
Rogge,  8,  114. 
quoted,  34, 
Roman   Empire,   the,   fiscal   ar- 
rangements of,  33. 
Roman  laws  inferior  to  Hebrew 

laws,  46. 
Rome,  the  ruling  power  in  Pales- 
tine, 28. 
Root,  Talmadge,  8. 

Sabbath,  strict  observance  of,  65, 

66. 
Sabbath,  Talmudic  tract,  19,  83. 
Sabbatic  year,  49. 
Sadducees,  origin   of   the  name 

Sadducee,  71. 


an  aristocratic  party,  72. 

Jesus  not  disturbed  by  them, 

120. 
their  skepticism,  195. 
Samaria,  fertility  of  the  district, 

17. 
Schools,    in    nearly  every  town, 

131. 
Schurer,  21,  63,  71, 131,  133. 

quoted,  60,  70. 
Scribes.  61,  62. 
Scriptures,  the,  Jesus'  knowledge 

of,  132, 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  93,  94, 100- 

104, 155, 172, 192. 
Sibylline  oracles,  131. 
Simon  the  Maccabee,  20. 
Slavery,  how  it  was  regulated  in 
Hebrew  legislation,  45. 
viewed  by  the  rabbis  and  apoc- 
ryphal writers,  79,  85. 
repudiated  by  the  Essenes,  S9> 
not  discussed  by  Jesus,  118. 
Slaves,  harsh  treatment  of,  37. 
Social  welfare,  not  the  end  of  life, 

122. 
Socialism,    errors    of    Socialism, 
121. 
relation  of  Socialism  to  Chris- 
tianity, 122. 
Sota,  Talmudic  tract,  82,  86. 
Soul,  supreme  value  of  the,  116. 
Succah,  Talmudic  tract,  80,  82, 
Suffering  believed  to  be  caused 

by  sin,  38. 
Synagogue,  value  of  the,  133. 

Taanith,  Talmudic  tract,  79,  81. 
Tacitus,  17,  33. 
Taxation,  complaint  of,  33. 
Taxes  in  Palestine,  enumerated, 

33. 
Temple,  beauty  of  it,  31. 
Temptations  of  riches,  161. 


2o8 


INDEX 


Thayer,  175. 
Tithes,  giving  of,  151. 
Tobit,  Book  of,  quoted,  84. 
Trades.  Jewish  youth  taught,  78. 

Usury,  or  interest,  forbidden  in 
Hebrew  legislation,  48. 

Wealth,  enjoyment  of,  148. 


Weapons,   not   wrought    by    the 

Essenes,  59. 
Work  held  in  honor,  43. 
Worship  of  mammon,  fatal  to  the 

worship  of  God,  155. 
the  extent  of  it  to-day,  163-167. 

Year,  Jubilee,  50. 
Year,  Sabbatic,  49. 


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LAKESIDE  PRESS,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


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